Free-speech advocates and adult-content providers are suing Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to bar her from enforcing a new state law requiring online platforms with sexual content to verify that their users are at least 18 years old.
The Free Speech Coalition, sexual wellness retailer Adam & Eve and other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit on Dec. 16 in the Northern District of Florida, alleging that Florida’s House Bill 3 violates the constitutional rights of content providers offering “material harmful to minors.” HB 3 is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1 of the new year.
The new law would impose civil penalties on platforms that violate its provisions. It would empower the state Department of Legal Affairs to collect civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation from offending businesses, as well as attorney fees and court costs. In addition, civil lawsuits could be brought on behalf of minors who were able to access the adult content – to the tune of $10,000 in damages.
“The act violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to, and the commerce and supremacy clauses of, the United States Constitution because it impermissibly burdens plaintiffs’ exercise of their rights thereunder in myriad ways,” the lawsuit states.
The new law is also unconstitutionally vague because it fails to spell out exactly what it prohibits, and it interferes with interstate commerce because content providers based in other states would face excessive burdens to communicate with Florida residents, according to the complaint.
“Despite the claims of the proponents, HB 3 is not the same as showing an ID at a liquor store,” Alison Boden, executive director of Free Speech Coalition, said in a statement provided to the Florida Record. “It is invasive and carries significant risk to privacy. This law and others like it have effectively become state censorship, creating a massive chilling effect for those who speak about, or engage with, issues of sex or sexuality.”
Methods to verify the ages of adult content users include uploading a government identification and facial scans, as well as third-party age verification methods. The lawsuit argues that purchasing the services of age-verification operators to verify site visitors would be expensive and burdensome and could subject their visitors to identity theft or privacy infringements.
“... Website service providers (including plaintiffs) are in the untenable position of abiding by the act’s terms and enduring the constitutional infringement, or violating them and risking ruinous liability from state and private actors alike,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs are asking the federal court to declare the measure unconstitutional and to enjoin the Department of Legal Affairs and other state officials from enforcing it. They also seek reimbursement of attorney fees and related court fees.
As of June of this year, 10 states have put in place similar laws that attempt to restrict children’s access to online adult content or social media material unless parents provide their consent, according to the Age Verification Providers Association.
“Research suggests that adolescents who view pornography tend to have more sexually permissive attitudes; have more sexual partners in their lifetime; are more likely to have engaged in certain sexual acts; and are more likely to display aggression,” the state Legislature’s analysis of the bill says.
The analysis also concludes that pornography use seems to be “a strong exacerbating factor” in individuals who have already-existing tendencies toward sexual aggression.