Following the Supreme Court's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which upheld a Texas law mandating age verification for adult websites, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has issued a statement urging Congress to take action. Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at ITIF, expressed concerns about the potential for various states to introduce their own age verification laws targeting adult websites.
Ambrose stated, "Now that the Supreme Court upheld Texas' law, more states will likely introduce their own age verification bills targeting adult websites. Congress needs to act now to prevent a patchwork of state age-verification laws."
The statement highlighted inconsistencies among state laws concerning age verification standards for online services. These range from app-store-based verifications to Texas' requirement for government-issued IDs. Such disparities can complicate access for users and website operators and potentially exclude individuals without IDs.
"Online services are increasingly caught in a tug-of-war between safeguarding adults' access to legal content and preventing children from viewing potentially harmful material," Ambrose noted. He further emphasized that Congress is better suited than individual states to address this issue by proposing a national child flag system that balances safety for children with adults' rights to access legal content.
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