Current:Home > InvestFederal judge blocks Texas law requiring I.D. to enter pornography websites-LoTradeCoin
Federal judge blocks Texas law requiring I.D. to enter pornography websites
View Date:2024-12-23 19:49:14
A federal judge has struck down a Texas law requiring age verification and health warnings to view pornographic websites and blocked the state attorney general's office from enforcing it.
In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra agreed with claims that House Bill 1181, which was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June, violates free speech rights and is overbroad and vague.
The state attorney general's office, which is defending the law, immediately filed notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The lawsuit was filed August 4 by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry and a person identified as Jane Doe and described as an adult entertainer on various adult sites, including Pornhub.
"Government can log and track that access"
Judge Ezra also said the law, which was to take effect Friday, raises privacy concerns because a permissible age verification is using a traceable government-issued identification and the government has access to and is not required to delete the data.
"People will be particularly concerned about accessing controversial speech when the state government can log and track that access," Ezra wrote. "By verifying information through government identification, the law will allow the government to peer into the most intimate and personal aspects of people's lives."
Ezra said Texas has a legitimate goal of protecting children from online sexual material, but noted other measures, including blocking and filtering software, exist.
"These methods are more effective and less restrictive in terms of protecting minors from adult content," Ezra wrote.
Judge: No evidence pornography is addictive
The judge also found the law unconstitutionally compels speech by requiring adult sites to post health warnings they dispute — that pornography is addictive, impairs mental development and increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation and child sexual abuse images.
"The disclosures state scientific findings as a matter of fact, when in reality, they range from heavily contested to unsupported by the evidence," Ezra wrote.
The Texas law is one of several similar age verification laws passed in other states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana.
The Texas law carried fines of up to $10,000 per violation that could be raised to up to $250,000 per violation by a minor.
The Utah law was upheld by a federal judge who last month rejected a lawsuit challenging it.
Arkansas' law, which would have required parental consent for children to create new social media accounts, was struck down by a federal judge Thursday and a lawsuit challenging the Louisiana law is pending.
- In:
- Health
- Technology
- Lawsuit
- New Orleans
- Politics
- Greg Abbott
- Texas
- Entertainment
veryGood! (735)
Related
- Jared Goff stats: Lions QB throws career-high 5 INTs in SNF win over Texans
- Minnesota is poised to give school resource officers clearer authority to use force
- Masked gunmen kill 4, wound 3 at outdoor party in central California, police say
- EA Sports announces over 10,000 athletes have accepted NIL deal for its college football video game
- In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes
- More than 10,000 players will be in EA Sports College Football 25 video game
- Trillions of gallons leak from aging drinking water systems, further stressing shrinking US cities
- 'Maroon,' 3 acoustic songs added to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour film coming to Disney+
- US Congress hopes to 'pull back the curtain' on UFOs in latest hearing: How to watch
- Florida gymnastics coach charged with having sex with 2 underage students
Ranking
- Jared Goff stats: Lions QB throws career-high 5 INTs in SNF win over Texans
- 2024 NFL combine winners, losers: Which players helped or hurt draft stock?
- Three-man, one-woman crew ready for weather-delayed launch to space station
- Catholic news site Church Militant agrees to pay $500k in defamation case and is expected to close
- MLS Star Marco Angulo Dead at 22 One Month After Car Crash
- Richard Lewis remembered in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' tribute, appears in scene with Larry David
- Brian Austin Green Details “Freaking Out” With Jealousy During Tiffani Thiessen Romance
- France becomes the only country in the world to guarantee abortion as a constitutional right
Recommendation
-
'Cowboy Carter' collaborators to be first country artists to perform at Rolling Loud
-
Trillions of gallons leak from aging drinking water systems, further stressing shrinking US cities
-
Hurricane season forecast is already looking grim: Here's why hot oceans, La Niña matter
-
Chris Mortensen, NFL reporter for ESPN, dies at age 72
-
Human head washes ashore on Florida beach, police investigating: reports
-
You Won't Believe What Sparked This Below Deck Guest's Drunken Meltdown
-
Jason Kelce Credits Wife Kylie Kelce for Best Years of His Career Amid Retirement
-
Haiti orders a curfew after gangs overrun its two largest prisons. Thousands have escaped