The Supreme Court declined to intervene against a Texas law that mandates age verification for accessing pornographic content online, a decision that could have far-reaching implications for privacy and free speech.

This means that if you run an adult website, you have to verify that anyone coming from Texas to your website is over 18 or block access to visitors from the state completely.

The Texas law, identified as H.B. 1181, was challenged by the Free Speech Coalition alongside several adult companies, who argued that the requirement for users to submit personal identification infringes on First Amendment rights. The challengers stressed that the law imposes undue burdens not only on minors but also on adults seeking to access such content.

Despite these concerns, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended the law, emphasizing its intent to ensure that only adults can access explicit materials online. In a brief, Paxton argued that the multi-billion-dollar pornography industry can feasibly implement measures to verify the age of its users.

Originally enacted in 2023, H.B. 1181 requires that platforms verify the ages of their users by collecting personally identifying information. This provision aims to restrict minors’ access to sexually explicit materials but has raised significant privacy concerns for adult users.

“HB 1181 requires purveyors of obscene materials online to institute reasonable age-verification measures to safeguard children from pornography.”

As for what “reasonable age verification measures” are, they have yet to be tested in a court of law. Most chose to interpret that as using a third-party age verification service that uses a webcam to scan your face and check your ID to ensure it matches.  There, however, is a cost to use such a service, which costs about $1 per person. That means if you have 1,000 people who visit your website a day, it would cost the adult website $1,000 a day to stay compliant with the law.

Just putting up a warning page and asking if a person is over 18 is no longer enough.

Adult sites aren’t the only ones who are facing age verification issues. Social media sites like TikTok, Instagram, and X are also wrapped up in their own legal battles with age verifications.

TikTok recently added a two-system verification method. When you create a new account, they ask you to verify your age by doing a biometrics face scan and letting AI estimate your age. If you clearly appear to be over 18, that’s the end. However, if the AI isn’t sure or if the AI thinks you might be under 18, you will then be forwarded to the more traditional 3rd party age verification systems, which require you to provide a copy of your driver’s license or state-issued ID.

The district court had initially found the law problematic due to its extensive reach and potential to affect adults’ access to content. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later sided with the state in a narrow 2-1 decision, prompting the industry’s appeal to the Supreme Court.

Following the appellate court’s ruling, major adult platforms, including Pornhub, preemptively blocked access to their sites from Texas IP addresses, citing risks associated with the law’s implementation. Chaturbate delayed blocking Texas and has faced $675k in fines as a result.

Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision not to halt the law means that Texas can enforce these age verification requirements, setting a precedent that may influence other states considering similar regulations. The ruling has sparked a broad discussion about the balance between protecting children from inappropriate content and safeguarding adult privacy and free speech rights online.