US EditionUS Supreme Court Poised to Rule Friday in Challenge to Texas Age-Check for Online Porn
- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas's law requiring porn sites to verify users' age in a 6-3 decision on June 27, 2025.
- In June 2023, Texas enacted House Bill 1181 to protect minors from explicit content, criticizing existing content filters as ineffective, with minors able to circumvent current age verification methods.
- Under HB 1181, sites with over a third harmful sexual content must verify users' age; fines reach $10,000 daily and $250,000 for violations allowing minors access.
- Following the Supreme Court ruling, Pornhub and other sites blocked Texas access amid threats of lawsuits from Attorney General Ken Paxton.
- The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling paves the way for nearly 24 states to adopt similar age verification laws, likely prompting nationwide legislation on online porn access.
14 Articles
14 Articles
US Supreme Court porn site ruling sets stage for broader online age verification debate
AUSTIN (KXAN)-- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday to uphold a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users' ages, setting a precedent that could affect similar legislation in more than 20 states. The court applied "intermediate scrutiny" to House Bill 1181, finding the law only incidentally burdens adults' First Amendment rights while serving the state's compelling interest in protecting children from sexually explicit materia…
SCOTUS Takes on Big Porn - First Things
Twenty-one years ago, five black-robed justices ruled that adults’ rights to effortlessly view hardcore pornography trumped children’s rights to a childhood. A boy born that summer is today buying his very first drink, handing over his ID to a bartender for inspection. And yet odds are he has already been watching porn for half of his life, just by tapping a button, “Yes, I’m over 18.” The average age of first porn exposure is ten or eleven, and…
U.S. Supreme Court ruling clears way for online pornography restrictions in South Dakota
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)A Friday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court set the stage for a law restricting access to online pornography to take effect Tuesday in South Dakota, but the ruling doesn’t shield the state from lawsuits. In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the nation’s high court ruled that a Texas law requiring adults to prove their age to access adult-oriented websites is constitu…
Kagan Calls SCOTUS Porn Ruling 'Confused': 'At War With Itself'
Justice Elena Kagan called Friday morning’s Supreme Court porn ruling “confused,” saying it flies in the face of established First Amendment case law. In Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas state law that requires adults to provide official identification in order to view websites where at least one-third of the content on it is “harmful to minors.” The case was decided 6-3 on ideological lines, with Justice C…
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