Childhood development and safety experts have staked out opposing positions at the Supreme Court ahead of the justices hearing arguments this week over Texas’ law requiring age verification for accessing online adult content.
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children has told the high court that the state law is not as effective as age-verification measures placed on devices that shield dangerous material from minors’ eyes.
“There is a better way to protect children from harmful content online: implementing age verification and filtering content directly on devices, rather than on websites,” the global nonprofit said in a court filing, adding that Texas’ law is “ineffective.”
“Such laws also chill children’s speech and their parents’ rights to make decisions on what their children see,” the filing reads.
But neurological and psychological experts have told the justices that they support the state law because medical research shows that pornography is damaging to the adolescent brain, as it triggers an imbalance in the brain’s ability to receive or process pleasure.
“Developing brains have unique, life-shaping capabilities to absorb information as the brain builds capacity and moves toward adult formulation,” their filing reads. “But this formative season of adolescent brain development is also uniquely vulnerable to the pathologies of addiction.”
“Childhood is thus the exact worst time for someone to be exposed to pornography,” the filing states.
The medical experts say that free speech concerns of adults who may experience a slight delay in accessing adult entertainment online due to entering identification proof online “cannot be compared to the damage done to adolescent brains viewing pornography.”
The clash over how to best keep minors safe is coming before the justices on Wednesday in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.
At issue is Texas House Bill 1181, which requires online adult content providers to implement age verification for accessing their sites. The state’s aim when it enacted the measure in 2023 was to deter the flow of adult images and materials to minors. A violation of the law could cost a company more than $10,000.
The law requires users to enter a government form of identification to prove age to access the adult content, but companies are not allowed to retain the information, according to court records.
Free Speech Coalition, a trade group for the adult entertainment industry, challenged the law. The group argues that the age verification process infringes on adult use of their sites and requires individuals to enter too much personal information.
The adult entertainment supporters say that the Texas law runs afoul of the First Amendment.
“Americans hold a wide range of views about sexual content online. Some view it as offensive or indecent; for others, it is artistic, informative, or even essential to important parts of career and life. Consistent with the bedrock First Amendment principle that ‘esthetic and moral judgments about art and literature … are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree,’” their brief reads.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, meanwhile, has told the high court that his state’s law is similar to other countries’ regulations and that children accessing adult material “is creating a public health crisis.”
“Through smartphones and other devices, children today have instantaneous access to unlimited amounts of hardcore pornography—including graphic depictions of rape, strangulation, bestiality, and necrophilia,” Mr. Paxton wrote in Texas’ brief.
A federal appeals court sided with Texas, prompting the porn advocates to petition the high court.
The Department of Justice told the justices in a filing they should vacate the lower court’s decision because the appellate court did not analyze the law under the highest level of scrutiny given the First Amendment concerns.
A decision from the justices is expected by the end of June.