And just yesterday — June 27 — the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued a devastating decision that opens the door to broad state regulation of adult content, effectively allowing AV laws with minimal constitutional constraint.
AV implementation was also scheduled to begin in France in June 2025, but was later halted — though only temporarily. However, it is set to come into effect next month in the UK — July 2025.
A lot has happened in the past month: the EU Commission (the executive branch of the EU) publicly attacked the three largest porn sites — including us — over our supposed obligation to prevent minor access, while completely ignoring far larger mainstream platforms.
What is AV and why it doesn't work
“Age verification” (AV) is the requirement for online platforms to implement strict methods to verify the age of their users, in order to prevent minors from accessing adult content.
By “strict,” we mean methods such as ID uploads, facial age estimation, credit card checks, or mobile operator verification. The allowed methods vary depending on the country.
At face value, it may sound reasonable — even like a good idea.
However, there are countless problems with it — many of which have been pointed out by credible observers, repeatedly.
Note that there has never been any credible evidence that site-level AV works either (especially when done selectively, like it has), while there have been countless warnings and demonstrations that it doesn’t.
Everywhere AV has been implemented, we’ve seen the same pattern: a handful of large porn sites are targeted (usually, us and Pornhub) — sometimes with a few token smaller sites — and that’s it.
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