Federal judge rules Texas law requiring age verification on porn sites First Amendment violation

A federal judge has ruled that a Texas law requiring pornography sites to install age-verification measures violates the Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition against free-speech restrictions.

The law also requires such sites to prominently display warning labels about what some consider the dangers of porn.  

The ruling is in connection to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Texas legislation filed earlier this month by the Free Speech Coalition.

The coalition includes the parent company of Pornhub, a popular pornography website; adult industry advocacy groups and an adult performer, according to Variety.com. 

The law was set to go into effect Friday and would have required porn sites to use “reasonable age verification methods” to “verify that an individual attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older.”

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law into effect June 12.

At least five other states – Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia – have enacted similar age-verification laws to block access to pornography sites.

Pornhub was among those that complied with the Louisiana law but decided to block access to users in the other four states, Variety also reports.