OPINION:
The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling Friday in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which upheld Texas’ commonsense age verification law for websites containing sexually explicit content, is a historic victory not just for the children of Texas but also for all American children.
This decision to protect children from the evils of online pornography will profoundly affect the lives of American youths for generations. The decision, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, reads in part: “The First Amendment leaves undisturbed States’ traditional power to prevent minors from accessing speech that is obscene from their perspective. That power includes the power to require proof of age before an individual can access such speech.”
In response to the ongoing heated debates over the regulation of online pornography, Justice Thomas wrote that “this social reality has never been a reason to exempt the pornography industry from otherwise valid regulation.”
The Texas law requires websites to verify users’ age of 18 or older before granting access to sexually explicit content. Pornographic websites such as Pornhub can be fined up to $10,000 per day for violating the law and face additional fines for illegally retaining identifiable information. This is a small price to pay for the harm these sites have inflicted on children for decades.
The ruling establishes a critical precedent that will pave the way for similar legislation across the nation. Eighteen other states have enacted similar age verification laws, as smartphones and other mobile devices allow youths to have free and easy access to the equivalent of an adult bookstore containing the world’s most extreme pornography at their fingertips 24/7.
Age verification laws have been in place for decades to shield minors from pornography in print and via broadcast. Additionally, age verification is required for draft eligibility (18), voting (18), purchasing alcohol (21) and cigarettes (21), and driving (16).
Although the multibillion-dollar pornography industry used its yawn-worthy privacy mantra — claiming that age verification to shield minors overly burdens consenting adults and violates their First Amendment rights — the court was not deceived. It’s about time.
For decades, the pornography industry has blatantly violated the federal obscenity laws and been given a free pass by the Justice Department to produce and distribute vile, extreme content online depicting themes of violence, rape and incest. Exposing children to any form of pornography, including the softer-core material, leads to devastating consequences for children’s emotional, mental and sexual well-being.
Even the pornography industry’s attorneys in Paxton acknowledged the ‘‘compelling government interest’’ in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors. This includes shielding youngsters from indecent and obscene content, even if such explicit content is protected for consenting adults. They went so far as to say that some level of filtering is necessary to protect minors from such content.
At last, the tide has turned on multibillion-dollar pornography enterprises, which will finally face a new level of accountability. Thank you to the court for putting the safety and well-being of our children over this toxic industry that has flourished for decades with impunity.
• Donna Rice Hughes is the CEO of Enough Is Enough, a nonprofit organization that has led the fight to make the internet safer for children and families since 1994. She is also an author, speaker, media commentator, former member of the Commission on Online Child Protection and host of the “Internet Safety With Donna Rice Hughes” podcast.
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