Texas Wins Court Order Targeting Pornographic Website’s Domain Over Age Verification Violations

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office has secured a court order aimed at preventing a pornographic website from operating under its current domain name after the site’s owner allegedly failed to comply with the state’s age-verification law.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the order stems from a lawsuit filed in April 2024 against Kick Online Entertainment, the owner of the website motherless.com, for allegedly violating Texas law requiring age verification before minors can access sexually explicit material.

The state previously obtained a default judgment and permanent injunction ordering the company to stop making harmful sexual material accessible to minors in Texas and to implement reasonable age-verification measures.

State officials allege Kick Online Entertainment ignored both the lawsuit and the court’s order, continuing to publish sexually explicit content accessible to minors in Texas.

As a result, the Attorney General’s Office obtained a court-ordered writ directing Verisign, the company that maintains the “.com” domain registry, to place the website’s domain on a registry lock, hold, or similar status.

Under the order, the company may seek to regain control of the domain only by posting a $9.14 million bond, implementing age-verification measures that comply with Texas law, and satisfying the civil penalties previously awarded in the case.

“This court order establishes a huge precedent that websites can be stripped of their domain if they ignore the law and harm children with pornographic content,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “This affirms that protecting children from pornographic content is not only about collecting a penalty but also shutting down websites that refuse to obey the law. My office will continue to take action against any website that harms kids by allowing them access to pornographic content.”

The Attorney General’s Office said the ruling demonstrates Texas can use legal mechanisms to enforce state law against companies operating outside the state and intends to continue pursuing similar actions against websites that fail to comply with Texas’ age-verification requirements.