PornHub and a group of other explicit websites are suing Texas over a new law requiring users to verify that they are adults.
The group is asking the court to block Texas Interim Attorney General Angela Colmenero from enforcing a new law, House Bill 1181, that requires adult websites to use “reasonable age verification methods.”
According to a report from local station KXAN, “The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a trade association that represents “hundreds of businesses and individuals involved in the production, distribution, sale, and presentation of constitutionally-protected adult content,” filed the lawsuit alongside 16 companies and one anonymous adult performer.”
“Many of FSC’s members are individual adult performers gravely concerned about the consequences of the Act, but who fear for their safety should they come forward publicly to challenge the Act in court,” the lawsuit claims.
The report explains that porn site users must be asked to provide digital identification; government-issued identification; or, public or private transactional data (mortgage, pay stub, etc.) to prove that they are adults and not minors.
“Despite impinging on the rights of adults to access protected speech, [the law] fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also the most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’s stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors,” the lawsuit alleges.
The law will also require porn and adult websites to display the following warnings:
“Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function.”
“Exposure to this content is associated with low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional and mental illnesses.”
“Pornography increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation, and child pornography.”
Applicable websites will also have to list the phone number for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
The new law does not apply to social media or internet searches.
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