The U.S. Supreme Court made a 6-3 decision in favor of upholding a Texas law that mandates age verification for accessing commercial websites providing sexually explicit material, marking the first instance of the court imposing requirements on adult consumers to protect minors from such content.
Free-speech advocates argued against the law, contending that it is overly vague and places substantial burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally protected expression, although aimed at limiting minors’ access to online sexually explicit content.
The big picture: Lawyers representing Texas emphasized that the opponents of the law had failed to demonstrate any individual whose rights had been adversely impacted by it, while asserting its objective to safeguard minors by necessitating age verification for all users, including adults, through government-issued identification to confirm they are at least 18 years old.
- The Texas measure, enacted in 2023, applies to websites containing content that is one-third or more “sexually suggestive” and “harmful to children,” a term open to debate as it encompasses various sexually suggestive material, including romance novels and R-rated movies, adding complexity to its interpretation.
Driving the news: The Free Speech Coalition and several adult industry producers challenged the law, arguing that it violates the First Amendment’s free speech and expression provisions, highlighting concerns about retaining and transferring identifying information without adequate privacy protections for adults, as well as the exemption of search engines and social-media platforms from the law’s coverage
- Federal judge David Alan Ezra initially halted the law from taking effect, citing its potential unconstitutionality, but a 2-1 ruling by a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the law, enabling its implementation, based on the rational basis test, which deems a law constitutional as long as the legislature has any rational justification.
- Opponents of the law contended that the rational basis test employed by the appeals court overlooked the impact on adult users and was too lenient, disregarding the law’s effects on privacy and its exemptions for platforms that serve as main entryways for minors to access sexually explicit content.
