Texas has passed a law requiring porn sites to verify the age of their visitors. The methods needed to enforce this law would be dangerous for users, according to Pornhub. The site filed a complaint to block the law.
It is not only in France that pornographic sites are targeted by laws trying to regulate the verification of the age of users. In the United States, after Louisiana in January 2023, Texas has just passed a law concerning age control. The law in question requires websites hosting adult content to implement strict user age verification measures to prevent access by minors.
Pornhub believes, however, that this law would not be constitutional. The site filed a lawsuit on August 4, 2023 against the US state, reports Vice, along with several other porn industry representatives. The complaint aims to block the law, which must be applied from September 1.
An “unconstitutional” law according to Pornhub
The law in question requires sites to verify the age of visitors in several ways. According to Texas Public Radio, users will be required to ” submit passport photos, facial scans, or other information, either to third-party companies or to the sites themselves in order to be able to access the sites. In addition to this verification, porn sites would also be required to display the message ” Warning from Texas Health and Human Services in bulk on their homepage.
According to Pornhub and the other complainants, the methods chosen to verify age are “ the least effective but also the most restrictive “. The real purpose of the law would not be to protect minors, but ” to stifle constitutionally protected free speech that the state does not appreciate “, can we read in the complaint.
Porhub also says minors could easily use VPNs to continue accessing their site, and that on-device content filtering would be a better method of restricting access to child pornography.
Law enforcement could further negatively impact user privacy and could potentially result in the disclosure of sensitive data, the site argues. “ While rapid advances in technology may make age verification seem easy, there is in fact no current method that does not come with inherent and unacceptable drawbacks and harms. “, can we read in the complaint.
A similar law first came into effect in Louisiana, where a complaint was also filed. However, the lawsuit has not yet been resolved, according to Texas Public Radio. Since then, Pornhub’s web traffic in the state has dropped 80% — the same thing could happen in Texas in the coming weeks.
Do you want to know everything about the mobility of tomorrow, from electric cars to pedelecs? Subscribe now to our Watt Else newsletter!