Porn Site Argues Arbitration Clause, Other Issues Mean Age-Verification Case Should End
Multi Media asked a federal court on Monday to drop a suit against the porn site, claiming the plaintiff failed to state a claim. Multi Media was one of four adult websites sued in the U.S. District Court for Kansas on May 12 for allegedly violating Kansas law by failing to implement age verification on their sites (see 2505130023).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Privacy Daily provides accurate coverage of newsworthy developments in data protection legislation, regulation, litigation, and enforcement for privacy professionals responsible for ensuring effective organizational data privacy compliance.
Multi Media said the plaintiff in Case 25-01094, a minor, attempted to access a Multi Media site prior to the dates outlined in the complaint. Moreover, he "completed the account signup process," including an "express acceptance" of its terms and conditions, Multi Media said in a memorandum. The minor completed a form, offering an email address, username, password and false birthday, it added, noting he “selected the checkboxes next to 'I have read and agree to the terms and conditions' and ‘I have read and agree to the privacy policy’ before clicking the ‘Create Free Account’ button.”
Despite the complaint’s allegations that “the initial ‘I AGREE’ pop-up box alone is an ‘inadequate age verification’ method, that [the minor] was able to access the Platform beyond the initial pop-up box, and that the subsequent pop-up box for age verification was not implemented until ‘[a]round January 1, 2025,’” Multi Media said “at all relevant times [it] maintained a legally required age verification method and that this method specifically prevented Plaintiff from accessing any adult content on its site.”
Multi Media also said the terms listed on its site stipulate disputes must be settled through individual arbitration.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) Law Center, which serves as co-counsel to plaintiffs in the four suits, said these are the first in the U.S. that challenge violations of age-verification laws (see 2505130023).