The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring age verification to access pornographic websites, reshaping how First Amendment protections apply to adult content on the internet. The 6–3 decision marks the first time the high court has approved a significant state-level restriction on online pornography.
The law, Texas House Bill 1181, mandates that users provide proof of age—such as a government-issued ID or personal data linked to employment or home ownership—before viewing adult material online. Sites that fail to comply face penalties as high as $10,000 per day, and up to $250,000 in damages if minors gain access.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, concludes that the Texas law is constitutionally valid. The Court’s three liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented, warning the ruling could chill free speech and jeopardize digital privacy.
Breaking With Two Decades of Internet Free Speech Doctrine
The ruling represents a sharp departure from the Court’s earlier positions on internet regulation. In the 1990s, justices struck down both the Communications Decency Act and the Child Online Protection Act for overreaching and restricting access to constitutionally protected speech.
This time, however, the majority found that technological changes—especially the rise of smartphones and on-demand video—have made adult content far more accessible to minors than in the past. That shift, they argued, justifies a new legal framework for regulating access to such material.
The Texas law, unlike previous efforts struck down by the Court, is more narrowly focused. It targets websites that dedicate more than one-third of their content to pornography and excludes search engines, social media platforms, and internet service providers from its reach.
Court Lowers the Bar for Justifying Content Restrictions
A critical element of the decision lies in the legal standard the justices chose to apply. While previous free speech cases involving adult content used strict scrutiny—a high bar requiring laws to be narrowly tailored to a compelling interest—this ruling applied a more lenient rational basis review.
That approach requires only that the law serve a legitimate government interest in a reasonable way. In this case, the majority agreed that Texas has a legitimate interest in shielding children from sexually explicit material, and that requiring users to verify their age is a reasonable method to achieve that goal.
By affirming the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to use rational basis review, the Court effectively lowered the constitutional hurdle for states to impose similar regulations on internet content.
Dissenting Justices Raise Alarm on Privacy, Adult Access
In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the Texas law should have been evaluated under the stricter standard. She emphasized that while protecting minors is a valid concern, the law also affects adults seeking legal access to constitutionally protected material.
Kagan expressed concern that requiring people to upload personal documentation—such as a driver’s license or financial records—might discourage lawful adult access and compromise privacy. She noted that the data collection involved raises broader questions about surveillance, data security, and freedom of expression.
She also cautioned that the law’s focus on content-specific speech should trigger heightened scrutiny under established First Amendment principles. The dissenters warned that allowing a lower standard in this case could open the door to broader government regulation of online speech based on its content.
Industry and Civil Liberties Advocates React
The Free Speech Coalition, a trade group representing adult content creators and websites, had filed the legal challenge to the Texas law. While the group acknowledged the state’s right to protect minors, it argued the law places unconstitutional burdens on adult users and poses serious privacy risks.
As a direct result of the law, some sites have already taken drastic steps. PornHub, one of the world’s largest pornography websites, chose to block access to users in Texas after the Fifth Circuit upheld the statute in 2024, citing concerns about legal liability and user privacy.
Other platforms may follow suit, especially as more states consider similar laws. The financial penalties for noncompliance, paired with uncertainty over how to handle sensitive user data, could prompt many websites to cut off entire states rather than risk violation.
