Age Verification for Websites with Sexual Material Harmful to Minors (H.B. 1181)
Texas HB 1181
Children · Artificial intelligence
Requires covered adult websites to verify that users are 18 or older using digital identification or a commercial age verification system, and bars retaining identifying information from verification. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the age-verification requirement in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (June 27, 2025); the Fifth Circuit's 2024 affirmance of the injunction against the mandatory health warnings (129B.004) was not disturbed.
- Where
- Texas
- Citation
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B (129B.001-129B.006)
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2023-09-01
- Last amended
- 2025-09-01
- Enforced by
- Texas Attorney General
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Up to $10,000 per day of non-compliant operation, $10,000 per instance of retaining identifying information, and up to $250,000 more if a minor accesses the material (129B.006(b)).
- Applies to
- Commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute website material more than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to minors (129B.002(a))
- Since Sept. 1, 2025, operators of public tools or apps that can create artificial sexual material, unless they prohibit and technically limit such generation (129B.002(a-1)-(a-2))
What a privacy notice must say
- Display state health warnings and a federal helpline notice on the landing page and every page.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 129B.004 · Only if: Enjoined: injunction affirmed by the Fifth Circuit, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, No. 23-50627 (Mar. 7, 2024)
Practices it requires
- Use reasonable age verification (digital identification or a commercial system using government ID or transactional data) to confirm users are 18 or older.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 129B.002(a), 129B.003
- Tools for creating artificial sexual material must verify age and confirm that any person whose face or body is used is an adult who consented.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 129B.002(a-1), 129B.0045 · From 2025-09-01
Security duties
- Neither the entity nor its verification vendor may retain any identifying information of the individual verified.Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 129B.002(b)
Sources
- Official text
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B (Texas Legislature, Texas Constitution and Statutes)
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 129B, statute text file served by the Texas Legislative Council
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-1122 (U.S. June 27, 2025) (slip opinion)
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, No. 23-50627 (5th Cir. Mar. 7, 2024) (opinion)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-24 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Whether any later order changed the status of the health-warning injunction after the Supreme Court's 2025 decision was not checked.
Research reference, not legal advice.