Supreme Court agrees to review Texas age verification law for porn sites
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will consider a challenge to a Texas law that requires pornographic websites to verify the ages of their visitors.
The dispute centers around Texas House Bill 1181, which was enacted in June 2023 and aims to prevent minors from accessing sexual content online. The law requires any website that publishes a certain amount of "sexual material harmful to minors" to verify that every user attempting to access the content is at least 18 years old.
Websites covered by the law must also display health warnings about the alleged psychological risks of pornography. Search engines and social media platforms are effectively exempt from the law's requirements. Violators may face up to $10,000 per day in civil penalties, and if a minor accesses sexual material, the Texas attorney general can seek an additional $250,000 per violation.
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