The Supreme Court of the U.S. has upheld the state of Texas online porn age check law, preserving age verification for access to online pornography.
France has already implemented similar legislation, with mandatory age checks for adult websites effective from January 2025. The UK is set to follow on 25 July. The EU is expected to introduce its own measures later this year, and Australia is actively trialling age verification technologies, with legislation likely to follow in 2026.
The 6-3 ruling upheld the Lower Court’s decision on Texas’ age check mandate, which does not infringe citizens’ constitutional rights of free speech. Porn websites have peddled this argument that the stricter rules violate the free speech of adults to freely use such platforms. The problem is the sides of the internet we know should be strictly for adults and different to children’s safe spaces often merge without boundaries.
The good news is 50 US states over the next 12 months will reach a united decision on identity verification to protect children’s safety. The first 20 states already require age checks for online porn, primarily in the Republican-governed states.
The law upholds that pornographic websites must verify the age of their users asking for personally identifying information to only permit access to over 18 year-olds.
Critics warn of privacy risks, including potential data breaches and surveillance concerns, and question whether tech-confident minors will still find ways to bypass verification.
Others argue age checks will cost hundreds of millions of dollars per year just for online porn operators.
“Age checks are likely to be way lower cost than feared or claimed, particularly in countries like the UK where Ofcom smartly allows porn operators to accept ‘network’ age tokens”, said Robin Tombs, Co-Founder and CEO, Yoti.
