The Supreme Court has ruled to uphold a Texas law requiring websites with "sexual material harmful to minors" to verify visitor ages

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Texas law requiring adult websites like Pornhub to verify users’ ages is constitutional, allowing the law to remain in effect.

The case centered on House Bill 1181, enacted in 2023, which mandates age verification for websites where over one-third of content is deemed harmful to minors. A coalition of adult entertainment sites challenged the law, arguing it infringed on free speech and violated user privacy.

Texas defended the law as a necessary step to protect children online. State Solicitor General Aaron Nielson described the requirements as “simple, safe and common.”

Although the justices were split on the First Amendment implications, the Court ruled 6–3 in favor of Texas. The majority concluded that the age verification requirement falls within the state’s authority to shield minors from sexually explicit material.

“This law represents a traditional use of state power to keep obscene material away from minors,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion. “To the extent it affects adults' access to protected content, that effect is only incidental,” he added, applying intermediate scrutiny rather than the more rigorous strict scrutiny standard.

The Court’s liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented. They argued that the law should have faced strict scrutiny, the highest level of judicial review for cases involving fundamental rights like freedom of expression.

Justice Kagan, writing for the dissent, noted that Texas may have met strict scrutiny standards but questioned whether the state had truly used the least restrictive means to protect children without burdening adults.

“What if Texas could achieve its goals without so deeply interfering with adults’ constitutionally protected rights?” Kagan wrote. “The State should not restrict adult access to lawful speech unless it is truly necessary.”

Under the law, users attempting to access websites with a significant amount of sexual material must verify they are 18 or older. This can be done through digital authentication, uploading a government-issued ID, or using a “commercially reasonable” method such as banking credentials. The law prohibits websites and verification services from storing any identifying data. Violations carry penalties of up to $10,000 per day.

HB 1181 was passed as part of a broader push by Texas lawmakers—and those in several other states—to limit minors’ exposure to explicit content online. With the Supreme Court’s decision, the ruling could influence similar legislation enacted in over a dozen other states.

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