Texas law requiring age-verification measures for pornography sites unconstitutional, judge rules

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing a law requiring pornography sites to implement age-verification measures, after finding the law unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra found that the law, which was set to go into effect Friday, violates the First Amendment because it “substantially regulates protected speech, is severely underinclusive, and uses overly restrictive enforcement methods.”

The law requires pornography sites to use age-verification measures to determine visitors to the sites are at least 18 years old. It also requires them to post warnings about the alleged harms pornography causes.

However, the judge noted the law, which is meant to prevent children from accessing pornography online, likely will fall short of accomplishing its aims because it is “severely underinclusive.”  

“It nominally attempts to prevent minors’ access to pornography, but contains substantial exemptions, including material most likely to serve as a gateway to pornography use,” Ezra wrote in Thursday’s order.

Ezra also noted content filtering is a less burdensome and more effective alternative to age-verification measures, which he said would deter “adults’ access to legal sexually explicit material, far beyond the interest of protecting minors.”

He pointed to privacy concerns associated with using government ID for age verification, one of two permissible mechanisms for verification under the law.

“People will be particularly concerned about accessing controversial speech when the state government can log and track that access,” Ezra said.

“In effect, the law risks forcing individuals to divulge specific details of their sexuality to the state government to gain access to certain speech. Such restrictions have a substantial chilling effect,” he added.