Joe.My.God. LGBT News
USA Today reports:
The Supreme Court on June 27 upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites verify users are at least 18, in a case that pitted concerns about protecting minors against worries about violating the First Amendment rights of adults.
The court split 6-3 along ideologically grounds with the three liberal justices dissenting. Eighteen other, largely conservative states have enacted similar laws in recent years as access toa growing cache of online pornography has exploded and the material has become more graphic.
Free speech advocates and a trade group representing the adult entertainment industry said requiring users to upload a government ID or use another approved method to verify age makes them vulnerable to their personal information being hacked, leaked or inadvertently disclosed. They said content filtering technology can stop kids from viewing porn without infringing onthe privacy rights of adults.
Read the full article.
Supreme Court Ruling: Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton
Thomas writes the opinion. 6-3 decision.
Basically Texas is allowed to verify age of users before accessing pornography websites. The law is allowed to continue.
— CA ET Nerd (@earlyvotedata) June 27, 2025
…We have our next opinion. It is Free Speech Coalition v Paxton by Justice Thomas. 6-3 opinion. Upholds age verification.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 27, 2025
NEW: In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a case on whether the 5th Circuit used the right legal test when assessing Texas’ law requiring pornography sites to verify users’ age, the court affirms the 5th Circuit’s ruling against a trade group for the adult entertainment industry.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 27, 2025
UPDATE from a hate group:
Today, history has been made. In Free Speech Coalition v Paxton, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that it is constitutional to require pornography sites to age-verify their users. This is a landmark win for America’s children and families, who have been suffering from a Big Porn industry that has been shielded from liability for systemically failing to keep underage users off of its platforms.
Free Speech Coalition v Paxton changes all of that, but there is still work to be done. Obscene content is not just a problem for children in red states—it is a national problem that requires a federal solution. Fortunately, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) has sponsored such a bill in the SCREEN Act, which would require age-verification to access porn sites nationwide, and would provide lawmakers with more powerful mechanisms to penalize bad actors and ensure compliance.
IFS fully supports the SCREEN Act and hopes that Democrats and Republicans come together to pass this critical legislation. With this ruling, there remain no substantive objections to a federal solution, so we encourage Congress to do what’s right for America’s kids.