The primary venue for a lawsuit involving pornographic websites that is now en route to the Supreme Court will be Texas. A state statute requiring websites with explicit material to obtain evidence of users’ ages was reviewed by the Supreme Court in April after a petition by the adult industry’s nonprofit entity, the Free Speech Coalition, was filed. As part of its upcoming term, which starts in October, the Supreme Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has decided to take up the case that challenges a prior decision made in that court.
In the past year, many states have implemented age-verification laws targeted at pornographic websites, including Texas. While proponents of these proposals claim that their goal is to shield kids from offensive material, opponents of the measures have referred to them as an overreach that poses additional privacy dangers. Pornhub stopped operating in certain jurisdictions in reaction to the restrictions, a move that brought attention to the matter from the public.
“While purportedly seeking to limit minors’ access to online sexual content, the Act imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally protected expression,” the petition filed by the FSC states. “Of central relevance here, it requires every user, including adults, to submit personally identifying information to access sensitive, intimate content over a medium — the internet — that poses unique security and privacy concerns.”
One of the most recent cases involving First Amendment rights to be heard by the Supreme Court is this one. The court rendered a decision on the degree to which social media corporations may cooperate with federal officials over disinformation earlier this month and returned a case concerning social media content moderation back to lower courts.
