Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Aylo Global Entertainment, a major pornography distribution company, for violating HB 1181, a Texas law that requires reasonable age verification measures to protect minors from being exposed to obscene materials. 

Aylo Global runs several of the largest pornography websites that host obscene materials, including Pornhub. Instead of abiding by Texas law requiring purveyors of obscene sexual material to institute age verification systems, the company immediately presents minors who access their websites with pornographic content. Attorney General Paxton is seeking an injunction against Aylo Global to require appropriate age verification safeguards and potentially millions of dollars in civil penalties for failing to abide by the law. 

In November 2023, Attorney General Paxton won a major victory at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing Texas to enforce the law. Companies violating the age verification requirements will be subject to fines of up to $10,000 per day, an additional $10,000 per day if the corporation illegally retains identifying information, and $250,000 if a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user’s age. 

“Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet.”

To read the filing, click here.