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The Internet Revolutionized Porn. Age Verification Could Upend Everything
Platforms like Pornhub and OnlyFans have given porn stars more autonomy. But sweeping age-check laws are already impacting their bottom lines.
Across a four-day span in late August, porn star Siri Dahl invites her followers to “cum on in” on OnlyFans, goes live on YouTube(“100% raw, organic, grass-fed” content, she advertises with a wink), hawks “Corn Star” T-shirts via her personal store, posts about appearing in a live podcast taping of Lovett or Leave It on X, where she has nearly half a million followers, and uploads eight videos to Pornhub, alternating between role-play (“Sexy Mean Starfish Babe Gives You Femdom Ass Worship”) and kink-friendly (“Cozy naked yoga by the fireplace”) content. But that could come to a crashing end, with the widespread adoption of age-verification laws in the US and UK, which require visitors to upload an ID or other personal documentation to validate that they are not a minor before viewing sexually explicit material. A more nuanced conversation is needed, but it is happening in a “problematic and repressive way that isn’t necessarily helpful,” says Pantea Farvid, a professor of applied psychology and director of the New School’s SexTech Lab in New York City.
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