United States of America: Filed lawsuit over Bill 1181 restricting access to sexual material harmful to minors on an Internet website (Free Speech Coalition v Texas)

On 4 August 2023, a public lawsuit was filed before the US District Court for the Western District of Texas regarding House Bill 1811 (Free Speech Coalition v Texas). The Bill requires websites publishing harmful sexual material to minors to verify users' identities using digital identification or other approved methods. Several pornographic websites sued the state of Texas over the Bill scheduled to take effect in September. The plaintiffs argue that the law is unconstitutional since it requires them to block access to their websites in Texas wholesale unless they implement a system that requires all visitors to transmit their personal information to verify that they are at least 18 years old. The Act would also be unconstitutional since it would require the plaintiffs to display a lengthy and controversial warning on their websites. The plaintiffs seek a court ruling to block the enforcement of the law.