Age Verification Ruling Tees Up Social Media Clash (Correct)

The Supreme Court ruling upholding a Texas law requiring porn providers verify users’ ages could have wide-reaching consequences for social media companies.

The court voted 6-3 in favor of Texas. In his majority opinion released Friday, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that “adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification. Any burden on adults is therefore incidental to regulating activity not protected by the First Amendment.”

The ruling is expected to trigger more age verification laws in other states. It also threatens to draw such corporate heavyweights as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. and Google-owner Alphabet Inc. into complicated compliance regimes as states home in on minors’ use of social media sites. Yet, given the tight focus of the ruling, states must move cautiously.

The court’s decision still leaves room for lower courts to weigh in, especially about future laws.

“The Court left open many unanswered questions for the wave of age verification and age assurance laws being passed,” said Mark Brennan, a partner at Hogan Lovells who specializes in privacy and online safety. “This case continues the Court’s trend of adding further complexity to federal and state tech legislation and creating more questions than answers.”

Path to Restrictions

The Texas is law is one of 24 passed since 2023 that require age verification for pornographic websites. Several more states have considered the prospect and were waiting for the Supreme Court to rule in, legislators said. At least nine more have also passed laws requiring age verification for social media use. Many of those laws have been since enjoined, but the age verification providers and their champions said the ruling Friday could create a new path forward.

“We welcome the Court’s decision to uphold Texas’ law, accepting that modern age assurance technology is effective, proportionate and privacy-preserving,” Iain Corby, executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association, wrote in a statement. “We expect this judgment to accelerate the adoption of age verification laws across the remaining 26 US states and globally.”

The Texas law requires internet companies distributing “obscene” materials to verify users’ ages. Non-compliance risks fines of up to $10,000 per day, as well as an additional $250,000 per minor access.

The Supreme Court review of the Texas law was sought by the Free Speech Coalition, an industry group representing the adult-film industry. The group sued in 2023 to block the law. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began enforcing it in February 2024, starting with a $1.6 million civil action against PornHub, which has halted access in the state.

“As it has been throughout history, pornography is once again the canary in the coal mine of free expression,” Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, wrote in a statement. “The government should not have the right to demand that we sacrifice our privacy and security to use the internet. This law has failed to keep minors away from sexual content yet continues to have a massive chilling effect on adults.”

Free speech advocates have long argued that age verification technology limits protected speech and invades privacy. The court didn’t weigh in Friday on specific privacy aspects, but it noted how technology has improved since previous attempts at porn regulation failed under court scrutiny.

Industry Still Confident

“It is sufficient that verifying age by government identification and transactional data is a legitimate legislative choice that does not impose excessive burdens on users,” Clarence wrote in a footnote. He added that “respecting past judgments also means respecting their limits.”

NetChoice, a tech lobbying group that includes Alphabet and Meta as members, has led 11 lawsuits against state laws requiring age verification. Litigation director Chris Marchese said that, when it comes to social media access, the group is “confident we will continue to win.”

“The Court upheld ID checks for porn sites, which disseminate content already unlawful for minors,” Marchese wrote in a statement. “By contrast, NetChoice’s lawsuits are about protecting access to speech that is lawful for all Americans—including political speech, news, and educational content.”

Other industry groups agreed.

“Practically, this has huge implications for the adult entertainment industry and it is hopefully more limited to other industries,” said Kathleen Farley, vice president of Chamber of Progress, another tech lobbying group. Broadly based age-verification laws, including those proposed for app stores, would remain unconstitutional under the decision, she added.

Alphabet and Meta representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is Free Speech Coalition, Inc. et al v. Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, U.S., 23-1122, 6/27/25