Last June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 1181 into law.
The bill was aimed at protecting children from online pornography and requires adult websites to use "reasonable age verification methods" to make only adults gain access to their content.
Some major porn sites took the new law to court on constitutional grounds and were able to wrangle an injunction preventing enforcement. But Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed and was allowed to press on.
As the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling, "Applying rational-basis review, the age verification requirement is rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in preventing minors' access to pornography. Therefore, the age verification requirement does not violate the First Amendment.
Paxton quickly filed suit against what is probably the largest adult site, Pornhub, which almost immediately blocked access to users from Texas, no matter their age.
And this week Paxton took on a couple of other big sites that have been flouting the new law, including xHamster, filing a lawsuit demanding they comply.
We applaud AG Paxton's efforts to protect children. And lest anyone think the state is infringing on adults to view what they want, it should be understood the decision to block access to Pornhub even to Texans of legal age was not made by Paxton, but by the site. We expect the others in the AG's crosshair to take similar action.
Of course, the porn merchants still proclaim this is a free speech issue. But it isn't. All they have to do is operate legally and put in reasonable age verification.
Of course, that would cut down on profits, as clicks drive ad revenue, whether it's an adult or child is doing the clicking.
That they have long resisted age verification makes it clear the industry puts clicks and profits above keeping kids safe.