Porn group sues Indiana over age verification law

The Califonia-based Free Speech Coalition filed a federal lawsuit on Monday to challenge an Indiana law requiring pornography websites to verify the age of users. The complaint alleges that age verification laws violate free speech rights of internet platforms and users. The coalition bills itself as a trade association for the adult content industry in the United States.

What would the law require? Indiana’s law would require adult websites to verify that users are legally adults. Users would be required to submit a credible form of identification to prove their age before accessing explicit content, defined as material harmful to minors.

What arguments does the lawsuit make? The lawsuit argues that requiring users to submit personal information to access content is a governmental attempt to regulate and censor free speech online. The coalition has requested an injunctive order to stop the law from going into effect as scheduled on July 1. The Free Speech Coalition says it has fought similar laws in Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and Montana while petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.

The American Civil Liberties Union in Indiana supported the coalition’s efforts to challenge the law. Collecting personal data opens users to risks of criminal extortion, data breaches, and identity theft, the ACLU of Indiana argued. Age verification won’t stop kids from viewing porn since certification is easily circumvented with a user VPN, the group added.

How has Indiana responded? It’s common sense that children shouldn't have easy access to harmfully explicit material, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita wrote in response to the lawsuit. Children need to be protected from the psychological and emotional consequences of viewing pornography, and Indiana looks forward to defending that in court, he added.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about similar laws enacted by other states.