Global War on Porn
Apple Warns UK Government of Serious Privacy Risks if 'Online Safety Bill' Passes
Apple has issued a statement warning against serious privacy risks that it says would result from the passage of the Online Safety Bill currently being fast-tracked by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Spanish Feminist Leader Crosses Party Lines to Demand Porn Censorship, Sex Work Abolition
Veteran Spanish feminist academic and activist Amelia Valcárcel reaffirmed her alliance with the right-wing Partido Popular (PP) on Wednesday by issuing a demand for the adoption of 10 policy items, starting with censorship of adult content and the abolition of all sex work.
British Baroness Defends Controversial California Age Verification Law She Inspired
The Baroness Beeban Kidron, a British aristocrat with California and Hollywood ties, was the subject last week of a fawning profile by Politico, in which she continued to defend her controversial campaigns for internet age verification in the U.K. and California.
Dorcel Testing Age Verification Solution in France
Veteran French studio Dorcel is currently testing a “double anonymity” age verification solution designed by a Marseille-based tech company.
Spanish Anti-Porn Activists Demand Laws to Match Utah and China
Local Spanish politicians and activists are demanding anti-porn legislation to mirror current initiatives in France, Germany, Utah and even China.
Pope Francis Condemns Adult Content as 'Commercialization of Love'
Pope Francis I condemned all pornography as “the crudest commercialization of love” during a meeting on Thursday with students and with bishops responsible for Catholic schools.
French Government Admits New Adult Content Law Will Target Twitter Too
The French government has confirmed that the new bill it introduced on Wednesday to bypass the courts and force platforms to implement age verification will apply not only to specifically adult sites but also to any site that allows explicit content, including Twitter.
France Moves to Force Adult Websites to Comply With Unclear Age Verification Law
The center-right French government led by Emmanuel Macron confirmed over the weekend that it will attempt to bypass the courts to force the five largest adult sites accessible in the country to comply with a controversial, vaguely worded 2020 age verification law.
China Flaunts Online Censorship Successes
The Chinese government released a statement Wednesday touting the results of its campaign during the first quarter of 2023 to censor, threaten and punish platforms and websites for “harmful information,” a category in which China includes pornography.
New EU Rules for 'Very Large' Platforms Raise Concerns for Adult Sector
The European Commission yesterday officially identified 19 major platforms and search engines to be targeted for compliance under the controversial Digital Services Act (DSA).
French Court Sets July Date to Decide Whether to Block Adult Sites
The Paris Judicial Tribunal held a hearing earlier this month with representatives from five of the most visited adult tube sites in France, and set itself a July 7 deadline to decide whether to order internet service providers in the country to block access to those sites.
German Police Ramp Up Plan to Eliminate All Explicit Content From Twitter
German police have been targeting and intimidating specific Twitter users who post or retweet explicit material, in an attempt to move forward local bureaucrat Tobias Schmid’s campaign to purge all open platforms of adult content.
Pope Francis: 'Those Who Use Pornography Are Diminished as Humans'
A propagandistic documentary currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, showing Pope Francis speaking to young people, features a full segment in which an adult content creator tells the head of the Catholic Church about her positive experience with sex work.
Australia's Top Censor Submits Secret 'Road Map' on Age Verification
Top censor and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who has acknowledged having conversations with U.S.-based, religiously-inspired anti-porn lobby NCOSE, submitted to the Australian government on Friday a road map to implement age verification for “online pornographic sites.”
Australia's Labor Government Touts Censorship Reform
The Australian government yesterday released a review of the nation’s content rating system for audiovisual material and games, proposing an end to the country’s censorship of certain fetishes and some instances of violence in pornography.
German Police Threaten Creators, Scholars for Posting Adult Content on Twitter
German police have been threatening adult content creators with criminal charges for posting explicit videos and images on Twitter.
'MindGeek Has a Responsibility to Lead by Example': An Interview With Solomon Friedman, Partner at New Owner ECP
Solomon Friedman, partner and VP at Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), the Canadian private equity firm whose purchase of MindGeek was made public yesterday, gave an exclusive interview to XBIZ today.
Indonesian Police Arrest, Publicly Shame 2 Women for Camming
West Jakarta police arrested and publicly shamed two young Indonesian women for nude camming earlier this week, charging them with pornography.
Retired Italian Performer Wins Employment Discrimination Lawsuit
A judge has ordered an Italian university to pay 4,000 euros ($4,290) to a prestigious academic after dismissing him, an action he alleged was prompted by his former career as an adult performer.
Vice Report Eviscerates UK MP's Anti-Porn Propaganda Report
Vice this week published an article criticizing a report by the U.K.’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation (APPG-CSE), which repeated anti-porn myths and recommended a state crackdown on sexual expression online.