Digital Borders Are Here—Why Should You Care?

This Deep Dive was originally sent on July 20th, 2025.

The digital privacy landscape is shifting dramatically. The Supreme Court just upheld Texas age verification laws, and major adult content sites have removed access to users in 20 U.S. states—with South Dakota becoming the latest to join the list.

What’s Going On?

• The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling in favor of Texas, allowing states to require adult websites to verify the ages of viewers
• South Dakota became the latest state to pass an age-verification law for adult-content sites, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026
• Major adult sites are geo-blocking entire states rather than comply with invasive ID verification requirements
• 24 states have now passed age verification legislation, and twelve more states have active age verification bills that can potentially pass before the year is up. Missouri, North Dakota, Arizona and Louisiana have age verification laws that will go into effect by the end of the year, but have not yet been blocked by major adult sites
• Most states are following the template laid out by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) and the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), requiring companies that publish adult content to check the age of every person accessing their website and paving the way for parents to sue if their kids access inappropriate content
• Some states are adding social media age restrictions to their bills, while others have incorporated child media protections
• Requirements vary widely, with most states accepting a combination of government-issued IDs, such as a driver or non-driver license, plus alternatives including military identification cards, bank account information, debit or credit cards requiring holders to be at least eighteen years of age, commercial third-party age verification services, or proprietary systems developed by the websites themselves