Texas is one of nearly 20 states that have established this requirement, which critics say violates First Amendment free speech rights.
Age verification through government ID
The Texas law was approved in 2023 by the state’s Republican-majority legislature, but was initially blocked after a challenge brought by an adult entertainment industry trade association. A federal district court ruled in favor of the Free Speech Coalition, arguing that it restricted adults’ access to content protected by the Constitution.
However, a conservative-dominated appeals court later upheld the age verification requirement, prompting the porn industry trade group to take its case to the Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 supermajority. .
“Texas has thrown its hat in the ring and imposed a forceful age verification mandate that places a burden on large numbers of adults who want access to constitutionally protected speech,” says the Free Speech Coalition. Expression in a writing addressed to the Supreme Court.
“By verifying information through government identification, the law will allow the government to peek into the most intimate and personal aspects of people’s lives,” he said.
Privacy and security issues
The Free Speech Coalition noted that Texas, in defending the bill, known as HB 1811, had pointed to laws requiring proof of age to buy wine or rent a car.
But the privacy and security issues raised by such transactions are different, according to the group, and unlike access to sexual content online, “most people wouldn’t be overly concerned about being linked to renting a car or the purchase of a wine.
In his opinion, HB 1811 would have a “substantial chilling effect” and carries the risk of “revelations, leaks or hacks” that could “reveal intimate desires and preferences,” including to the State.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton insisted in his brief to the Supreme Court that there is nothing unconstitutional in the law that requires websites with pornographic content to verify that their users are over 18 years of age.
Children’s access via smartphones and other devices to an “avalanche of misogynistic and often violent obscenities” is creating a public health crisis, Paxton argued.
“HB 1181 does not prevent adults from viewing pornography,” he said. “Instead, it requires online pornographers to take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that their customers are not children.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit civil liberties organization, was one of the interested parties that filed briefs in the case and urged the Supreme Court to strike down the law. “Online age verification is much more invasive of privacy,” the EFF said, than an ID check in a store.
“Momentary in-person identity verification does not require adults to carry data-rich, government-issued identification documents,” he said, “thereby creating a potentially lasting record of their visit to the establishment.”
“Texas’ age verification law will deprive people of anonymity, discourage access by users concerned about privacy and security, and completely block some people’s online access to adult content that remains fully legal.” protected by the First Amendment,” the EFF stated.
France also recently imposed age verification on some porn sites, but with a requirement that platforms offer at least a “double blind” option for users to prove their age without revealing their identity.
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