One decision deals with porn, the other with social media platforms more broadly. Federal judges issued preliminary wins to free speech, sex workers, social media, and civil liberties and blows to censorship, nanny statism, and overreaching Arkansas and Texas authorities yesterday. Both rulings involve recently passed age verification laws—one barring minors from accessing a variety of social media platforms without parental permission and one requiring pornography websites to check IDs.
Both cases could have implications far beyond their respective states of origin, since proposals requiring parental consent before minors use social media and laws requiring porn platforms to check visitor IDs have become popular around the country.
