Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Pornhub’s parent company and major online porn distributor Aylo Global Entertainment over claims it failed to follow the state’s new age verification law.
The Canadian adult entertainment conglomerate publishes “sexually explicit material online that is accessible and harmful to Texas children and adolescents,” the lawsuit begins.
It then cites the “many negative emotional, psychological, and physical health outcomes” that can be associated with exposure to such material among pre-teens.
That measure–authored by Republican Rep. Matt Shaheen—is aimed at protecting minors from being exposed to obscene materials, according to GOP lawmakers.
Lawsuit Details
The warning, to be attributed to the Texas Health and Human Services, must state that exposure to pornography is “associated with low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional and mental illnesses” and “increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation, and child pornography.”Companies that violate the age verification law risk being fined up to $10,000 for each day in violation, as per the legislation, and face an additional $10,000 per day if the corporation illegally retains identifying information.
Additionally, entities may have to pay out $250,000 if a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user’s age.
According to the lawsuit filed by Texas, however, rather than seeing such health warnings when they visit Aylo Global Entertainment’s websites, minors are instead “either immediately presented with sexual material harmful to minors with no form of verification needed, or are asked to complete the trivial step of clicking an ‘enter’ button which, ostensibly, verifies the viewer is over the age of 18.”
“Moreover, even when the Defendants’ websites require an ‘enter’ button be pressed, that button is often displayed along with a sample of the sexual material published or distributed on the website,” the lawsuit states.
‘Detrimental Effects of Pornographic Content’
The attorney general’s office is seeking an injunction to force Aylo Global to comply with the state’s age verification system and display the required health warnings.Texas is also asking Aylo to pay $1.6 million in civil penalties plus $10,000 per day dating back to mid-September, the same month the measure was initially set to go into effect.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Mr. Paxton’s office said Texas “has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content.”
“I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet,” Mr. Paxton said.
Texas’ lawsuit against Aylo Global Entertainment comes after multiple pornography websites challenged House Bill 1181 in an effort to prevent the law from going into effect.
A spokesperson for Aylo declined to comment.