U.S. District Senior Judge Richard Young determined Senate Enrolled Act 17 (2024) likely violates the 1st Amendment rights of Hoosier adults in its zeal to prevent individuals younger than 18 years old from accessing adult-oriented content online.
The statute, which is on hold indefinitely pending further litigation, preemptively prohibited adult-oriented websites from publishing their content in Indiana unless the site employed a rigorous age verification system to prevent minors from accessing the website. Young said, in accordance with the Constitution and prior U.S.
Supreme Court rulings, any law infringing on protected speech, including adult-oriented content, must advance a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to that interest so there are no less restrictive alternatives. The Indiana law, he said, "is not close" — "The attorney general has not submitted any evidence suggesting age verification would prohibit a single minor from viewing harmful materials, even though he bears the burden of demonstrating the effectiveness of the statute." Specifically, Young observed that minors based in Indiana still could access adult-oriented websites because the method of determining a website user's home state is not reliable, and it easily can be hidden or altered using a free virtual private network (VPN) connection.
The law also specifically excludes from the age-verification mandate internet search engines and social media sites, such as Reddit and Facebook,.
