If you try to access PornhubOne of the largest websites in the world, from any 17 states of the United States, you will be blocked. Pornhub's parent company, Aylo Holdings, has restricted access to respond to a series of laws saying that Pornhub himself was responsible for checking that all visitors were over 18 years old.
On Friday, in a decision 6 matches 3 that can reshape the landscape of online privacy and freedom of speech, the Supreme Court maintained the entire law of verification of the Texas era, one of the first people who were passed in the country that required many pornographic publishing websites to check all visitors to be over 18. TX HB1181Indicates that websites are multi -third of sexual documents, may face a fine of up to $ 10,000 per day if they do not place the age verification system, plus additional penalties up to $ 250,000. It also claims the websites should display Health warning about potential health risks of pornography.
Written to the majority, the Justice of Clarence Thomas said that because the law “simply requires evidence of age to approach obscene content for minors, it does not directly adjust the protective words of adults,” add, “adults have no right to revise to avoid verification of age.”
In his disagreement, Elena Kagen's justice argued that the Texas law imposed the direct and unconstitutional burden on adults approaching the protected speech. A state may not pay much attention to protecting adults approaching clearly sex speech; A state may even like to cut those documents for everyone, she wrote, but the first revision protects those clear sex materials, for each adult.
The ruling marked a big victory for the General Attorney General of Texas Kenas Ken Paxton, the legal guard between the fierce opposition of digital rights groups and the adult entertainment industry.
The legislators in Texas passed HB1181 in early 2023, but that was collapse In the Court of the United States in Western Texas district, it is likely to be unconstitutional before the law takes effect. The industry group of adult alliance for free speech, among others, has challenged the Texas Law on the grounds that it violates the first amendment by restricting adult access to the speech protected by the Constitution. In March last year, an appellate court of the fifth round Maintain Texas Before the alliance of freedom of speech take away The lawsuit at the Supreme Court in a hearing session in January.
In recent years, a wave Age verification law has been proposed in states across the country. More than half of our states have passed or have tried through age verification laws, according to one follow -up Published by free alliance.
The efforts to adjust the porn content online are often the opening move in wider campaigns to censor the Internet, Jess Jess Miers, a assistant professor at Akron Law University, said before this decision. While this case focuses on verifying the mandatory age for adult content, state legislators are hoping to provide a legal foundation to impose extensive restrictions on a range of online documents.