CITIZEN: What the Paxton decision means for protecting kids.

In 2024, the General Assembly passed HB 278 by Rep. Matt Lockett. Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Gex Williams in the Senate, the bill included language creating age verification requirements for pornographic websites. When pornographic content consists of 33% or more of a website’s content, the website must verify the age of the user before allowing access. This law helps ensure that kids do not have easy access to pornographic content. Because of HB 278, Pornhub, the world’s largest distributor of pornographic content announced that they were blocking access in Kentucky.

Allies of the porn industry filled lawsuits against several age verification laws, including Texas’s. The Supreme Court accepted the Texas case in what became known as Free Speech Coalition v Paxton. While Kentucky’s law was not directly at issue in the case, the ability of Kentucky to enforce its age verification requirements was at stake. If the Supreme Court ruled against Texas, it would have opened the door for a successful lawsuit against HB 278. Thankfully, the majority opinion in FSC v Paxton was in favor of age verification laws, allowing states like Kentucky to protect kids from vile online content.

One of the arguments from the porn lawyers was that age verification violates the right to view pornography privately. However, Justice Thomas countered by writing, “the use of pornography has always been the subject of social stigma. This social reality has never been a reason to exempt the pornography industry from otherwise valid regulation.” Justice Thomas concluded his opinion by stating, “The [Texas law] advances the State’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content. And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”

While this legal victory is a huge win for Kentucky children, the battle to protect kids online does not stop with the porn industry. Ultimately, we must protect kids from the harmful business practices of big tech and social media companies. In future legislative sessions, The Family Foundation will continue to advocate for laws that put parents in charge of their kids’ online activities by requiring parental consent. Importantly, FSC v Paxton gives us a legal framework to build upon in legal challenges to those future laws.