An Olathe mother has filed suit against operators of Jerkmate, Chaturbate and other adult sites on behalf of her 14-year-old son, who she says accessed online pornography despite a state law requiring age verification.
It’s one of the first legal challenges related to an age verification law Kansas passed in 2024. On sites where 25% or more of the pages contain content deemed “harmful to minors,” the law requires steps to verify Kansas users are 18 or older.
Texas’ version of the policy is subject to a First Amendment challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court. That ruling, expected in the coming months, could have implications for similar laws in Kansas and dozens of other states.
In January, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court under the same age verification policy. The company in that case, SARJ, LLC, recently responded to the suit, saying it cannot be held liable as a foreign corporation.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, or NCOSE, a nonprofit with religious roots based in Washington, D.C., joined as co-counsel in the latest legal complaints related to the Kansas law this week.
They accuse companies associated with jerkmate.com, chaturbate.com, superporn.com and hentaicity.com of failing to comply with Kansas’ age verification requirements.
The complaint identifies the teen as “Q.R.” In August 2024, it says he found an old laptop his mother had forgotten about in a closet.
“Unfortunately for Q.R., it was still in working condition,” the complaints read. “Q.R., using his mother’s old laptop, had unfettered access to the internet and began searching for pornography.”
The teen accessed those sites 185 times in the span of two months, per the lawsuits.
Those companies violated Kansas’ age verification and consumer protection laws, the complaints allege — which could mean tens of thousands of dollars in damages per violation.
Benjamin Bull, General Counsel for NCOSE, said he hopes this lawsuit will “open up the floodgates” of similar challenges based on age verification laws in various states.
“The average person … who's not on these sites doesn't understand how extreme and crazy it's gotten,” he said.
Many fear that porn can lead to addiction and dangerous behavior, though scholarly conclusions on the effects of teen porn use are more mixed.
A U.S.-based 2022 survey found that more than 70% of teens reported having seen porn online. The majority had seen it by the age of 12.
The Free Speech Coalition, a trade group for the adult entertainment industry, has argued that the benefits of age verification laws do not outweigh the privacy risks of forcing users to upload government I.D.s to view pornography.
“While the proposed bills laudably bar companies from retaining this information, that does not mitigate the dangers of transmitting it in the first place. The mere collection of this information opens users up to the risk of data breaches,” the organization wrote in a 2023 report.
Bull said age verification laws like the ones passed in Kansas, Louisiana and elsewhere are the best option available to protect children and individual rights.
“If you can think of a regulation that gives complete access to all the porn an adult wants and prevents children from gaining access to it, tell me,” he said.
Zane Irwin reports on politics for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at zaneirwin@kcur.org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
