A U.S. District Court Judge Allows Utah Law That Requires Age Verification For Porn Websites to Remain in Effect and Dismisses a Lawsuit Alleging That the Law Violates the First Amendment and Individual Privacy, According to a Press Release bottom.

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) lawsuit Utah will go into law on May 3 requiring age verification checks on porn websites or face civil lawsuits from Utah residents. Judge Ted Stewart dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday, allowing the law to remain in force, but the FSC has announced it plans to appeal the ruling, sources reported. press release. (Related: National Library Association works to repeal anti-porn laws)

“Utah is trying to avoid liability for a dangerous law passed by its own legislature, but don’t get me wrong, this law is unconstitutional,” FSC Executive Director Alison Borden said in a press release. “As we’ve seen with Don’t Say Gay, the Texas Heartbeat Act, and other attacks on free speech, states are trying to get around the First Amendment by delegating censorship to the people. is a new mechanism, but it is deeply flawed: Any attempt by the government to cool speech is prohibited by the Constitution and decades of judicial precedent.”

Stewart did not address the group’s First Amendment concerns, but wrote in the decision that the group cannot sue state officials since the First Amendment went into effect. law The Associated Press reported that if a website fails to verify a user’s age, it is left to the individual citizen to sue and seek damages. For this reason, he rejected the group’s request for a pre-enforcement injunction.

Republican Governor Spencer Cox said the bill was “the least we can do as a society.” according to to the New York Times.

“The least we can do as a society is require companies to verify the age of the people who watch the porn they produce and distribute,” Cox said. “This bipartisan unanimous bill provides multiple ways to meet that requirement. However, I fully support PornHub’s decision to remove content in Utah.”

The state has been advocating for the protection of children from pornography for several years. In 2016, Cox signed A bill was passed calling the porn industry a public health crisis in the state, and in 2020, Utah passed a law requiring all porn videos to be labeled with a warning that the content is harmful to minors.

FSC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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