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US Supreme Court justice asks 'weird' question about PornHub: ‘Is it like old Playboy?’

ByAditi Srivastava
Jan 16, 2025 01:40 PM IST

The case, challenging H.B. 1181, raises questions about online content regulation and First Amendment rights, with a decision expected by June 2025.

The Supreme Court took an unexpectedly quirky turn when Justice Samuel Alito raised eyebrows and a few chuckles by comparing PornHub to the old Playboy magazine during a hearing on Texas’s controversial age verification law.

Pornhub's battle with age verification laws, privacy concerns, and allegations of hosting illegal content raise debates about protecting minors (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)(AFP)
Pornhub's battle with age verification laws, privacy concerns, and allegations of hosting illegal content raise debates about protecting minors (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)(AFP)

The case, regarding regulating access to explicit content online, sparked a mix of serious legal debate and jokes on social media as Alito questioned how today’s adult platforms compare to the cultural commentary once found in Playboy.

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Justice Alito's question on PornHub and Playboy

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments regarding Texas H.B. 1181, a law requiring adult content websites to verify the ages of their users, according to People. The law mandates that websites with more than one-third of content deemed "harmful to minors" implement "reasonable age verification methods." Violators face a $1,000 daily fine.

The Free Speech Coalition, representing the adult entertainment industry, filed a lawsuit claiming the law violates the First Amendment. Addressing the Free Speech Coalition’s attorney, Derek Shaffer, Alito inquired about the percentage of PornHub’s content that is not obscene for minors.

"Is it like the old Playboy magazine? You have essays there by the modern-day equivalent of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, Junior?" he asked.

“Not in that sense,” Shaffer admitted, “but in the sense [that] you have sexual wellness posts about women recovering from hysterectomies and how they can enjoy sex. That’s on there. Discussions of age verification proposals and where the industry lines up as far as what they think should be legislated and what should not.”

Texas H.B. 1181 faced an initial roadblock when Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra blocked its enforcement. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned this decision, allowing the law to proceed temporarily. In April 2024, the Supreme Court declined to reinstate but agreed in July to review the Fifth Circuit’s ruling, bringing the law’s constitutionality under closer scrutiny.

Social media reacts to Justice Alito's remark

As soon as the comment went viral on social media many users mocked the suggestion that Playboy's articles were a cultural highlight, while others questioned his familiarity with PornHub's content.

One user quipped, “There’s no way Alito read Playboy for the articles in his day.” Another criticised the justice’s line of questioning, "Setting aside the ridiculous insinuation being made by this line of questioning that suggests only certain calibers of speech should be free, are we seriously supposed to believe that Samuel Alito is not intimately familiar with the content available on PornHub dot com?"

The case, Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, is expected to have far-reaching implications for content regulation and free speech in the digital age. A decision from the Supreme Court is anticipated before the end of June 2025.

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