Internet Porn Censorship

Ofcom commissioned research has identified (but not named) 2 adult video sharing sharing platforms that are based in the UK. It will be interesting to see how age verification requirements will effect these UK services trying to compete with the rest of world with no such requirements (for the moment).

Ofcom writes:

We are seeking evidence and information related to the new requirements that will apply to video-sharing platforms.

Video-sharing platforms (VSPs) are a type of online video service where users can upload and share videos. VSPs allow users to engage with a wide range of content and social features and are particularly popular among young people. 90% of adults and 98% of children aged 8-15 who use the internet have used a VSP in the past year.

Ofcom will be given new powers this autumn to regulate UK-established VSPs. This will include a duty to ensure that VSPs have in place appropriate measures to protect young people from potentially harmful content and all users from illegal content and incitement to hatred and violence. Services will also need to ensure standards around advertising are met.

This call for evidence sets out the background and legislative context to forthcoming VSP regulation in the UK and an overview of the VSP regulatory framework. It also sets out Ofcom's approach to VSP regulation based around some core principles: protection and assurance; freedom of expression; adaptability; transparency; enforcement; independence; and proportionality.

German authorities have been stepping up their efforts to fine in-country sex workers for posting sexually explicit content on open online platforms like Twitter, forcing them to take down posts on the U.S.-based -- and Free Speech-protected -- sites.

Jessica Klein of Daily Dot explained that the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media makes it illegal to distribute pornography to which minors have access.

Government censors from a confusing patchwork of censorship bodies in state and local governments have been using that legislation to target sex workers who post sexual content on open platforms like Twitter without an age-verification firewall.

The Daily Dot interviewed Bodil Diederichsen, who works with the Medienanstalt Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein (MA HSH), a regional media censor. Diederichsen was unusually candid about the official efforts to censor sex workers, and said that her unit mainly work off tips, getting notifications from the public about possibly offending content, which also includes hate speech and other violations, before researching it themselves. Ultimately, the German censors target the posters themselves, with threats of hefty fines. Presumably this avchieves more than try to get Twitter to do the censorship.

German law allows the posting on explicit content to what they call a closed user group (i.e., behind some kind of age-verification wall). But in the case of Twitter, the process is at the discretion of these local censorship bodies, like MA HSH.

Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link?

• Christopher J. Ferguson, Department of Psychology, Stetson University
• Richard D. Hartley, Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio

Abstract

Whether pornography contributes to sexual aggression in real life has been the subject of dozens of studies over multiple decades. Nevertheless, scholars have not come to a consensus about whether effects are real.

The current meta-analysis examined experimental, correlational, and population studies of the pornography/sexual aggression link dating back from the 1970s to the current time.

Methodological weaknesses were very common in this field of research. Nonetheless, evidence did not suggest that nonviolent pornography was associated with sexual aggression. Evidence was particularly weak for longitudinal studies, suggesting an absence of long-term effects. Violent pornography was weakly correlated with sexual aggression, although the current evidence was unable to distinguish between a selection effect as compared to a socialization effect.

Studies that employed more best practices tended to provide less evidence for relationships whereas studies with citation bias, an indication of researcher expectancy effects, tended to have higher effect sizes. Population studies suggested that increased availability of pornography is associated with reduced sexual aggression at the population level.

Porn superstar Mia Khalifa has changed her mind about wanting to be a porn star and is campaigning to get her videos taken down seemingly claiming some sort of retrospective withdrawal of consent. Of course all the videos were properly licensed for distribution and the licence holders are not keen on losing a significant revenue stream.

Porn company BangBros are most effected and so are contesting claims that Khalifa had only a short 11 film porn career. Now BangBros have responded with a list of 28 films that feature Khalifa.

Khalifa porn collector's may be interested in knowing the films required for the complete collecton. Based on BangBros' list, Khalifa made seven videos for Scoreland, two for John Stone XXX, one for TR Productions and 18 for Bangbros for a total of 28 videos. The total count has 17 more videos than what Khalifa claimed.

Khalifa also said she only made $12,000 from her short stint. However, in BangBros' responded that the company paid her $178,000. The adult site also debunked her claim that she was only a part of the porn industry for three months because she allegedly started in mid-2014 and only left in July 2017.

Pornography websites are among the most well trafficked in the world, attracting an even greater number of visitors than household names such as Netflix, Amazon and Reddit, new research has found.

According to analysis from web hosting company Fasthosts, Xvideos and Pornhub are the two most popular adult entertainment websites , receiving an average of 3.1 and 2.9 trillion monthly visitors respectively. The two pornography giants outrank Amazon (2.3 trillion), Netflix (2.2 trillion) and Reddit (1.3 trillion), highlighting the sheer scale of the modern pornography industry.

According to Fasthosts, the top ten busiest websites in the world consist almost exclusively of search engines and social media sites. Google is by far the most popular, attracting 78.6 trillion visitors per month - more than twice as many as any other website. YouTube takes second spot on the list with 29.3 trillion monthly visitors, followed by Facebook with 23.5 trillion.

According to the PornHub Insights blog, traffic to the website increased dramatically in mid-March, coinciding with the introduction of coronavirus lockdown measures across the globe. At its peak on March 25, PornHub traffic was 23% higher than the usual average and remained between 10-20% above average throughout May.

A coalition of age verification companies have won the first round of their legal action against the Government in a bid to force ministers to introduce a shelved internet porn censorship scheme that would provide the companies with an income.The companies launched an appeal last year, saying they developed software that was never used.

A judge ruled that age verification companies, backed by children's charities, have an arguable case that the Culture Secretary exceeded her powers by deciding not to implement the ban, which had been voted for by Parliament .

The ruling means the claimants can now take the case to a judicial review, which could overturn the Government's decision.

Plans to introduce an age verification scheme were shelved in October last year, perhaps because the law did not provide any provision for keep very dangerous ID and porn browsing data private and safe. At the time, ministers said the age verification scheme as defined in the Digital Economy Act 2017 would be superceded by forthcoming Duty of Care legislation.

In court, the Government argued that ministers had not exceeded their powers and that circumstances had radically altered since the porn ban legislation was originally passed.

Pornhub is offering free ad space to small companies that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

The website has announced its Big Package project -- a relief initiative to help small businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic. The adult site is offering companies with 100 employees or less the chance to create a series of customised ads to feature (for free) on the website. A selection of 100 businesses will be awarded one billion ad impressions, harnessing Pornhub's 130 million daily users.

The French parliament has agreed a new law requiring age verification on pornographic websites to prevent access by children under 18. The censorship law has the support of President Emmanuel Macron, who called for such a measure in January.

The French law gives sites discretion to decide how to perform that age verification.

The law gives French regulators the power to create a blacklist for overseas sites that don't comply with the new rules. If a site doesn't respond to a warning from French officials, they can ask the Paris Court of Justice to send an order to telecom operators to block the access to these sites from France.

A major sticking point in the UK's failed age verification law was privacy. Critics pointed out that it wasn't a great idea to force adult consumers to turn over their credit card numbers to porn sites that might not have the strongest privacy protections. It's not clear what privacy protections will be offered to consumers under the French law.

In order to enforce the law, the French audiovisual regulator CSA will be granted new powers to audit and sanction companies that do not comply -- sanctions could go as far as blocking access to the websites in France with a court order.

The Senate has already voted on the bill. Following an agreement between senators and lawmakers from the lower house National Assembly, a final vote will be held again in the Senate where the bill is expected to pass.

Mia Khalifa says she regrets the adult films she made at 21, and now almost 1.5 million people have signed a petition demanding they are taken down from porn sites.

Khalifa made 11 videos during her three months as a porn star in 2014. Despite retiring from the adult industry six years ago, her videos - for which she says she was paid $12,000 - remain extremely popular in places such as Pornhub and she is one of the site's most searched-for performers.

A video in which the Christian Mia wore a hijab, which she claims she was pressured into doing, has gotten her death threats from ISIS.

Mia's supporters recently created a Change.org petition demanding the films be taken down from porn sites. Titled Justice for Mia Khalifa, it has attracted more than 1,392,000 signatures.

Pornhub has launched a new premium couples service billed as helping lovers spice up relationships while stuck in coronavirus quarantine.

The site's new initiative will allow couples to share a membership account and a lover's playlist. The playlist offers the opportunity for members to exchange their favorite action clips based on the genres their partner likes. Users will also be able to enjoy standard Pornhub Premium features such as exclusive and high definition videos and an ad-free experience.

Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said in a press release that couples who play together, stay together. He continued:

We decided to introduce our Premium Lovers membership in order to provide couples with a resource that can not only help spice up their relationships in quarantine, but also to help each partner learn even more about their lover on a sexual level.

Pornhub's Premium Lovers membership has a seven-day free trial. The shared account will cost $14.99 a month once the trial period ends.