TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.
The companies named in the suit are WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ), which operates XVideos.com, as well as WGCZ subsidiaries NKL Associates, which operates XNXX.com; Sonesta Technologies, which operates BangBros.com; GGW Group, which operates GirlsGoneWild.com; and Traffic F, which operates TrafficFactory.com.
All the companies named in the suit are incorporated in the Czech Republic, though Sonesta and GGW are listed as also having affiliated entities based in Florida.
“Multiple porn companies are flagrantly breaking Florida’s age verification law by exposing children to harmful, explicit content,” Uthmeier stated in a press release Tuesday. “We are taking legal action against these online pornographers who are willfully preying on the innocence of children for their financial gain.”
Uthmeier asserted that the companies have “openly defied” HB 3, and noted that two of the companies made no changes after his office sent them letters demanding they comply with Florida state law.
The complaint states that the AG “seeks to compel the pornographers to comply with their obligations under Florida’s age-verification law” as well as with the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) in order to “stop the unfair and deceptive business practices that the pornographers have used to build a vast and lucrative Florida user base that includes vulnerable children and adolescents.”
The complaint contends that each “knowing and intentional” violation of Florida’s AV rules constitutes an “unfair and deceptive trade practice” under FDUTPA.
As XBIZ reported last year, the Florida state legislature passed HB 3 in March 2024. The law includes a requirement for adult websites to verify the age of site visitors in the state. The law faced legal challenges, including by the Free Speech Coalition, but the pivotal U.S. Supreme Court ruling in FSC v. Paxton rendered those challenges moot, leading FSC to drop its suit and paving the way for full enforcement.
