Porn website operators sue Indiana AG Todd Rokita to block age verification law

A slew of adult-content website operators and a California-based free-speech trade group are suing Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita over Indiana's impending age-verification law, which authorizes Rokita to sue porn websites if they fail to adequately screen out children from viewing their content.

Pornhub and other operators are seeking to block the law, which they argue impinges on adults' free speech and other constitutional rights. Lawmakers had nearly unanimously passed Senate Bill 17 in March, and it's set to go into effect on July 1, unless a judge grants this injunction.

More: Indiana bill requiring porn websites to verify visitor ages heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb

The plaintiffs ― which include the Free Speech Coalition, the California nonprofit trade association representing adult filmmakers, distributors and retailers; and multiple operators of popular pornography sites such as Pornhub ― argues that the "incurably vague" law requires the "least effective and most restrictive" means of age verification, which both acts as a barrier to adults' access to free speech and poses excessive cost and privacy concerns to the websites and their visitors.

"Any claimed benefit of age verification imposed by the Act does justify the burdens imposed on adults — the vast majority of whom value their online privacy and do not wish to expose exploitable personal data simply to view constitutionally-protected material they have every right to view," their complaint, filed Monday, reads. "The high risk of data breaches and leaks resulting from compliance with the Act serve as an unavoidable barrier preventing adults from divulging their information over the internet."

On X, Rokita called the law "commonsense."

"Children shouldn't be able to easily access explicit material that can cause them harm," he wrote. "It's commonsense. We need to protect and shield them from the psychological and emotional consequences associated with viewing porn."

What does SB 17 do

Senate Bill 17, carried by Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, targets "adult oriented websites" where at least a third of content would be considered "material harmful to minors," defined in state law as representations of nudity, sexual conduct and sado-masochistic abuse.

It requires those website operators to, beginning July 1, have a "reasonable age verification method" to prevent minors from viewing their site. Acceptable methods include using a mobile identification credential issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, an independent third-party age verification service, or "any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data."

The bill also authorizes the attorney general or the parent of a child who has gotten past age verification to sue these providers. It virtually sailed through both chambers of the General Assembly with bipartisan support.

What the porn websites argue

The plaintiffs argue this law is a violation of the First amendment because they say it restricts free speech unnecessarily.

For example, they argue there are more effective options out there to address the same end without introducing a barrier to adults' access, such as content filtering at the browser or device level. With the method outlined in this law, children can easily get around age verification through virtual private networks and the dark web, and adults' speech is chilled because they are required to hand over personal information, they said.

"But such far more effective and far less restrictive means don’t really matter to Indiana, whose true aim is not to protect minors but to squelch constitutionally protected free speech that the State disfavors," the plaintiffs write.

They claim the law violates numerous other constitutional amendments, such as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, because the law targets porn sites but excludes internet browsers and social media sites; and the Excessive Fines clause of the 8th Amendment, citing the cost of a reputable third-party age verification service as roughly $40,000 per 100,000 verifications.

They also claim a violation of the federal Communications Decency Act, which says website operators are not to be considered publishers liable for content on their sites created by third parties.

The ACLU of Indiana is also opposed to the law, making similar First-Amendment arguments.

“In the history of the Internet, we’ve never been required to present an official ID to merely visit a website," executive director Chris Daley wrote in a statement in January. "This may block some people — for example, those who lack government identification or whose age is mis-identified by the relevant technology — from accessing the sites altogether. We can, and should, make the Internet safer for minors. But we can do this without sacrificing our privacy and Constitutional rights.”

When the bill was sent to Gov. Eric Holcomb, Bohacek wrote in a statement that the state has an "obligation to protect children from harmful content on the internet."

"Indiana has the opportunity to set an example for other states to protect children all over the country, and I am pleased to have championed this bill as it moved through the legislature," he said.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Porn websites sue Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita to block new law