First Amendment
Compliance With State Age Verification Laws
During the past year, website operators have faced a slew of new state age verification laws entailing a variety of inconsistent compliance obligations.
Judge Acquits Backpage Defendants of Most Charges Before 2nd Retrial
A federal judge has acquitted former Backpage.com co-owner Michael Lacey, and two co-defendants, of most of the counts remaining from the protracted case launched against the website operators by the Justice Department in 2018.
FSC, Co-Plaintiffs to Ask US Supreme Court to Review Constitutionality of Texas Age Verification Law
Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and its co-plaintiffs in the challenge to Texas’ controversial age verification law have petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to stay its recent decision upholding the law, because they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law’s constitutionality.
First Amendment Expert Clyde DeWitt Reflects on Storied Career
First Amendment champion and industry attorney Clyde DeWitt, who has been diagnosed with untreatable cancer, recently spoke with XBIZ, reflecting on his remarkable career.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee Questions First Amendment Protections for Sexual Content
Utah newspaper Deseret News has published an interview with U.S. Senator Mike Lee, in which he champions ongoing efforts to limit access to adult content online in the name of fighting “porn addiction.”
South Dakota Republicans Admit Age Verification is Part of National Campaign Against Online 'Filth'
The South Dakota House Judiciary Committee last week voted unanimously to endorse the state’s copycat version of the age verification legislation being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists, which the bill’s backers have described as part of a national campaign to fight online “filth.”
Federal Prosecutors Insist on Retrying Backpage.com's Former Owner
Federal prosecutors this week filed a formal notice of retrial in a Phoenix federal court, seeking to retry former Backpage.com co-owner Michael Lacey, two months after they failed in their second attempt to convict the veteran Arizona publisher of the overwhelming majority of charges against him relating to third-party posts on the shuttered classifieds website.
Beyond DMCA Takedowns: Exploring Alternative Avenues
Most content creators recognize that inevitably, their content will be leaked on pirate sites, forums and file lockers. The most responsible and successful creators have therefore implemented a strategy to protect their valuable intellectual property.
North Carolina Group Backing Age Verification Bill Admits Law Is Actually 'Anti-Pornography'
A North Carolina religious conservative group backing just-passed age verification legislation, which a Republican state senator snuck into an unrelated bill last week, has admitted the copycat amendment is in fact an “anti-pornography provision.”
ACLU, FSC Raise Objections to Senate's New Section 230-Busting Bill
An ACLU-led coalition of civil rights groups and groups representing LGBTQ+ individuals, sex workers, journalists and libraries issued an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday warning against the Strengthening Transparency and Obligations to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (STOP CSAM) Act.
Court Blocks California's Controversial 'Age-Appropriate Design Code Act'
A federal judge on Monday issued an injunction blocking the California attorney general from enforcing the controversial California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which was passed last year after lobbying from a British baroness.
Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services Refuses to Answer Questions About Anti-Porn Law's Mandatory 'Warnings'
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services has declined to confirm or deny whether the “health warnings” mandated by the state’s recent anti-porn age verification law are supported by any official documentation or statement produced by that office.
AI-Generated Adult Content and the Law
In the near future, more and more adult content creators will stumble across realistic reproductions of their image and likeness posted on platforms or sold on membership sites — content never produced or authorized by the creator.
Texas Orders All Adult Sites to Post Anti-Porn Propaganda Disclaimers
The Texas legislature has passed a new age verification law that compels adult websites to post pseudoscientific anti-porn propaganda disclaimers declaring that “pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses and weakens brain function.”
How Sex Trafficking Claims Can Affect the Adult Industry
Numerous online platforms, including Kik, Twitter, Reddit and MindGeek, have been sued by civil claimants seeking to hold them responsible for sex trafficking activities by their users. These lawsuits have significant consequences for adult industry website operators, billing processors and performers.
North Dakota Republicans' Bill Proposes Total 'Obscenity Control'
A partisan bill introduced by North Dakota Republican state senators would redefine “obscene material and performance” and “explicit sexual material” in extremely broad terms that would result in creating criminal liability for almost all instances of nudity and references to sex outside of adult venues.
Woodhull Files New Reply Brief Challenging FOSTA
Woodhull Freedom Foundation has filed a reply brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the latest action in the organization's four-year legal battle to have FOSTA-SESTA declared unconstitutional.
5th Circuit Upholds Texas' Controversial Online Platform Liability Law
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a controversial Texas law prohibiting social media platforms from “censoring speech based on the viewpoint of its speaker,” in a decision that ignored long-standing precedent that First Amendment protections prohibit only censorship by the government, not by private companies.
9th Circuit Hears Arguments in Backpage.com Appeal
Attorneys for the former owners of Backpage.com and for the federal government presented arguments this morning before a three-judge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, in the defendants' appeal of a lower court's denial to dismiss the case.
Utah Board of Education Adopts Guidelines for How to Ban 'Pornographic' Material
The Utah State Board of Education has approved official guidelines for how to ban books and other material from school libraries, amidst a moral panic stoked by religiously inspired activists seeking to cleanse education of “pornography.”