Justice Alito's Question About Pornhub And Playboy Has People Asking, 'Come Again?'
Justice Samuel Alito managed to arouse a lot of attention on social media Wednesday thanks to his question about how the adult content platform Pornhub compares to Playboy magazine.
It happened when the Supreme Court was hearing arguments about a Texas law that requires age verification for users to access sexual content online. At one point, Alito asked Derek Shaffer, a lawyer for the adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition, what percentage of Pornhub content “is not obscene as to children.”
The justice then inquired, in what the New York Times described as a “mocking tone,” whether Pornhub was “like the old Playboy magazine.” He asked, “You have essays there by the modern-day equivalent of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.?”
Shaffer conceded the lack of Vidal and Buckley think pieces, but said Pornhub users could find “sexual wellness posts about women recovering from hysterectomies and how they can enjoy sex.”
The Supreme Court is expected to decide by June whether the age verification process required by Texas law imposes too great a burden on adult access to legal content.
However, people on social media were mostly just amused by the fact that Alito had asked about Playboy vs. Pornhub.
Pornhub should do interviews with presidential candidates, like Playboy publishing that interview with Jimmy Carter where he said he had committed adultery in his heart.
Game-changer— Metal_Lawyer 🎸 🤘 ⚖️ (@prsn_mike) January 15, 2025
Lol. Reminds me of the Simpsons joke where Bart asks the Nanny what she'd do if she caught him with a Playdude: "I'll force you to read every word of that wretched publication, including Norman Mailer's latest claptrap about his waning libido!"
— Ross Kavanagh (@Ross_Kav) January 15, 2025
Why should they?
Does Car and Driver have erotica and nudes? Does Scientific American have dessert recipes and an entertainment section?
Why is it a problem if THIS speciality site, I don't know, specializes, but not others?— 🇵🇸 #Free Ahed Tamimi 🇾🇪 (@nothenryporter) January 15, 2025
If this ends with Pornhub grudgingly adding a "Gore Vidal" tab to its homepage, gonna have to give props to Alito pic.twitter.com/cUO65U8ydR
— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) January 15, 2025