Law / United States / 
Texas
HB 1181 (2023), age verification for material harmful to minors
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B
In force since .
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material on a website, including a social media platform, more than one third of which is sexual material harmful to minors.
- Use reasonable age verification methods for Texas visitors, confirming they are 18 or older.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- Do not retain any identifying information of the individual whose age you verify; a third party that performs the age verification is bound the same way.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.DM-P5
- From , if you operate a website with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors, or otherwise make publicly available an application for creating sexual material harmful to minors, use reasonable age verification methods to verify that an individual attempting to access the tool is 18 or older.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- To rely on the exemption from that age verification duty, prohibit the generation of artificial sexual material harmful to minors in terms and conditions or use policies that a user must acknowledge before being granted access, and take affirmative steps to limit its creation, such as training your software to identify likely sexual material, providing effective reporting tools, or filtering likely sexual material and sexually explicit content generated by artificial intelligence.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- From , ensure that any individual used as a source for artificial sexual material harmful to minors is 18 years of age or older and has consented to the use of the individual's face and body as a source; this does not apply to an entity that qualifies for the exemption above.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P1
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-1122, 606 U.S. ___ (2025) (recorded ).
In the frameworks
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework, and in the NIST Privacy Framework, line by line beside each duty above. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalties
For a violation of section 129B.002, 129B.003 or 129B.0045, a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day the entity operates a website or makes available an application in violation of the age verification requirements, $10,000 per instance of retaining identifying information in violation of section 129B.002(b), and up to $250,000 more if a minor accesses sexual material harmful to minors because of an age verification violation.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Texas Attorney General
Litigation
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Docket
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-1122
- Posture
- The Fifth Circuit had upheld the law applying rational basis review. The Supreme Court affirmed on different reasoning, holding 6 to 3 on that intermediate scrutiny, not strict scrutiny, governs age verification laws of this kind, and that HB 1181 survives that standard. Justice Thomas wrote for the majority, Justice Kagan dissented.
Settledness
The Supreme Court held that the age verification requirement of House Bill 1181 survives intermediate scrutiny.
- As of
- Case link
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1122_3e04.pdf
- Case citation
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-1122, 606 U.S. ___ (2025)
- Open questions
- How is the "more than one-third" share of a website's material that is sexual material harmful to minors measured under section 129B.002(a), when the section names no unit of measure such as pages, files or traffic?
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Covered services
Commercial websites, including social media platforms, more than one third of which is sexual material harmful to minors. From , also websites with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors, and applications made publicly available for creating sexual material harmful to minors.
Verification methods
Gov ID, Digital ID, Transactional data
What it makes you log
Log retention
The section sets no period and no exception; it bars retaining the information at all.
- As of
- Basis
- Unspecified
- Prohibits retaining
- Any identifying information of the individual whose age was verified, which neither the commercial entity nor a third-party verifier may retain
Logging duty
Chapter 129B requires a commercial entity to use reasonable age verification methods (129B.002(a), (a-1) and 129B.003) and bars it and any third-party verifier from retaining any identifying information of the individual (129B.002(b)). It names no log, no record of the check and no regulator access to a record; the Attorney General's action in 129B.006 seeks an injunction and a civil penalty, including $10,000 per instance of retention in violation of 129B.002(b). The chapter names no territorial hook.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material on a website, including a social media platform, more than one third of which is sexual material harmful to minors, to use reasonable age verification methods for Texas visitors.
House Bill 581 of 2025 (chapter 720) amended section 129B.002 effective . Under the amended section, a commercial entity that operates a website with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors, or otherwise makes publicly available an application for creating sexual material harmful to minors, must also use reasonable age verification methods to verify that an individual attempting to access the tool is 18 years of age or older.
An entity is outside that duty if its terms and conditions or use policies, which a user must acknowledge before being granted access, prohibit the generation of artificial sexual material harmful to minors, and it takes affirmative steps to limit the creation of that material through technological tools.
Section 129B.002(b) bars a commercial entity, or a third party that performs the age verification, from retaining any identifying information of the individual, including when the verification is required for the artificial sexual material tool.
Artificial sexual material harmful to minors is computer-generated sexual material harmful to minors that was produced, adapted, or modified using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software and in which a person is recognizable as an actual person.
House Bill 581 also added section 129B.0045 effective .
Section 129B.0045 requires a commercial entity that operates a website with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors, or otherwise makes publicly available an application for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors, to ensure that any individual used as a source for the material is 18 years of age or older and has consented to the use of the individual's face and body as a source, unless the entity falls within the exemption in section 129B.002(a-2).
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