On January 15, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Free Speech Coalition v Paxton, our challenge to Texas’s HB 1811 age-verification law. For nearly two and a half hours, the Justices heard from our legal team, the United States Solicitor General and the Solicitor General for the state of Texas.

We were pleased to see the Justices so engaged on the issue. We know that, regardless of one’s politics or theories of law, the fight to keep minors safe online is complex — especially when it may limit the ability of adults to access material they have a right to see. As they have in rulings before, the Justices discussed that tension.

By the end of the session, the Court was actively debating what was too much of a burden for adults to endure — a question we also believe is central to this case. This is not merely a theoretical question. Many adult websites have attempted to comply with state laws, only to find that required protocols, such as ID uploads and facial scans, can dissuade more than 95% of visitors from proceeding to a site. We don’t believe Texas has the right to legislate burdens so high that they effectively function as government censorship.

We are thankful that the court agreed to hear our challenge and we believe they understand the enormity of the stakes. Regardless of changes in technology or politics, we believe the First Amendment principle is the same. The internet is vast and the challenge significant, but the government can not reduce the adult population to accessing only what is fit for children — especially when less burdensome and more effective solutions exist. 

The United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has granted Tennessee a stay of the preliminary injunction ordered in December, allowing the Protect Tennessee Minors Act, the state’s age-verification law, to go into effect. Adult businesses should be aware that the state’s attorney general could begin enforcing the law, effective immediately. Additionally, the law permits residents of Tennessee to bring a private cause of action, or civil suit, against sites with “material harmful to minors.” Read more on our blog.

”’We can protect children online without censoring the internet for adults,’ said Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition. ‘There are smarter, more effective solutions to keeping kids from seeing adult materials that don’t violate the First Amendment right of consumers to go online anonymously.’” Read more from the ACLU.

“In court filings, Free Speech Coalition, a group representing the adult entertainment industry, argued that while the law's goal is to limit minors' access to online sexually explicit content, it is overly vague and ‘imposes significant burdens on adults' access to constitutionally protected expression.’ They also argue that a user, including adults, must submit personally identifying information to access the material, thereby posing security and privacy concerns.” Read more on NPR.

“By the time the arguments in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ended at the Supreme Court at a little past noon, however, it appeared that most of the court was ready, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson put it, to ‘just say, wrong standard, Fifth Circuit, and send it back’ for review under the proper standard.” Read more on Law Dork.

“’When an adult site tries to do age verification, most people coming to that site refuse to do a face scan, biometrics, ID upload, whatever it is. There's a huge chilling effect. People don't want to do it,’ said Mike Stabile, director of public policy for the Free Speech Coalition.” Read more on CBS News.

Influential conservatives (Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts; American Principles Project’s Terry Schilling) use the Federalist to call on Trump’s DOJ to begin prosecute “obscenity” by arresting pornographers and cleansing the internet of adult content. Age-verification, it seems, was always a means to an end. Read on The Federalist.

The U.K. government has issued a warning about the vulnerabilities of Bluetooth-connected sex toys, highlighting risks of physical and psychological harm if devices are hacked. Research shows many of these products lack proper encryption, leaving them susceptible to attacks, such as device locking or data exploitation. Users are urged to keep devices and apps updated and reconsider the need for app connectivity to minimize risks. Read more on Forbes.