Texas AG Ken Paxton sues two more porn websites over age verification law

In another attempt to limit the accessibility of adult content online, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued two more pornography distribution companies, alleging that they are in violation of a state law requiring age verification for sexually explicit websites.

On Tuesday, the attorney general's office filed civil lawsuits against Multi Media, which owns the website Chaturbate, and Hammy Media, which owns the website xHamster. The suits argued that simply asking users if they are at least 18 years of age does not qualify as a "reasonable" attempt at age verification, which is required by law. The attorney general is asking for permanent injunctions and monetary damages of $1.8 million from Multi Media and $1.7 million from Hammy Media, in addition to $10,000 for each day that elapses after the filing until the companies are in compliance.

Texas House Bill 1181, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June 2023, requires that websites containing "sexual material harmful to minors" confirm that users are at least 18 years old. The law delineates several "reasonable" methods for doing so, including government-issued identification, "digital identification" and "transactional data."

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In a news release, Paxton framed his legal fight against porn companies as an effort to protect children from "harmful" and "obscene" materials.

“I will continue to aggressively enforce HB 1181. All pornography companies lacking proper age verification safeguards on their sites should consider themselves on notice, because they’re violating Texas law,” Paxton said in the release.

As of Thursday afternoon, both Chaturbate and xHamster were still accessible in Texas. Chaturbate is requiring users to verify their age by logging in with an account or using a digital ID, while xHamster prompted users to click a button indicating that they are at least 18 years of age.

Val Gurvits, a lawyer with the firm Boston Law Group representing xHamster, said the company just learned about the lawsuit on Thursday.

"My client is both surprised and disappointed that no one from Texas reached out to them before filing this lawsuit," Gurvitz said in an email. "While we are considering the constitutionality of the underlying statute and weighing our options, xHamster is in the process of voluntarily temporarily disabling access to its website in Texas. I look forward to working with Texas state officials on resolving this litigation.”

Chaturbate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pornhub recently suspended access to its website in Texas, after Paxton filed a similar lawsuit against its parent company, Aylo.

Texas is one of several states that have age-verification laws for adult websites. Adult businesses and advocates have argued that these requirements amount to an infringement on free speech and won a temporary hold on Texas' age-verification law. But, in November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the attorney general's office to begin enforcing the law and ruled in March that age-verification requirements do not violate the First Amendment.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas AG Ken Paxton sues two more porn sites over age verification law