Written by Lindsay Whitehurst
Washington (AP)A Texas law that prohibits minors under the age of 18 from viewing pornography online was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday.
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Since smartphones and other gadgets make it easier to access online porn, particularly extremely explicit content, nearly half of all states have implemented comparable age verification rules.
The Texas statute was challenged by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade group representing the adult entertainment business, which resulted to the 6-3 decision. On the basis of ideology, the court divided.
The group claimed that by requiring adults to provide personal information that could be tracked or hacked, the statute unfairly restricts their right to free speech. However, it acknowledged that youngsters under the age of 18 shouldn’t watch porn.
Pornhub, a well-known website with sexual content, has ceased operations in a number of states due to privacy and technical issues with adhering to the regulations.
The Supreme Court has previously addressed the matter. It overturned portions of a 1996 legislation that prohibited children from viewing explicit content online. In 2004, a divided court also declared that less restrictive measures, such as content filtering, are constitutional, but rejected another federal statute that sought to prevent children from being exposed to porn.
Texas contends that throughout the past 20 years, technological advancements have made it possible for online companies to quickly verify users’ ages using a picture. According to the state, those criteria are more akin to ID checks at physical adult businesses that were supported by the Supreme Court in the 1960s.
Appeals courts overturned the district courts’ initial rulings and allowed the statutes to go into effect in Texas, Indiana, and Tennessee.
This report was written by Nashville-based Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise.
Visit https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court to follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court.
