Big Porn’s Market Share Droops in Some States
It’s a $100 billion business that many "experts" said was too big and too powerful to ever control by mere state-level legislation.
And even if you try, there will be instant lawsuits and more controversy. Experienced politicians advised, better to stick to tax cuts and complaining about regulation.
We know what you’re thinking: Not another Big Pharma opinion whine–fest!
Nope. This column is about victory.
A victory against an industry that may be even more arrogant and ethics-challenged than Big Pharma. We’re talking about Big Porn!
Politico informs us that one of the larger porn peddlers, Pornhub, was visited 42 billion times in 2019, which works out to 115 million times daily. That was before the Branch Covidians locked us inside our homes, chained to a computer monitor.
Way too many of those "visitors" are underage children who are being exposed to what amounts to a brain virus that legislation warns, "Pornography is creating a public health crisis and having a corroding influence on minors. . . . Pornography may also impact brain development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships, as well as promoting problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction."
Louisiana freshman Republican state legislator Laurie Schlegel didn’t listen to the comb-over, surrender caucus.
She started the ball rolling in June 2022 with a bill.
Politico observed, "A Simple Law Is Doing the Impossible. It’s Making the Online Porn Industry Retreat."
Her bill passed the Louisiana House of Representatives 96 to 1, and in that state's Senate, 34 to 0.
The requires porn purveyors to perform age verification on visitors and ban anyone under age 18.
Here’s the good news: Traffic on Pornhub dropped 80% after passage of Schlegel’s bill.
One porn promoter complained to Politico, "age-verification laws make traffic to porn sites drop precipitously. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that nobody wants to upload their driver’s license or passport before watching porn . . . "
"At a cost to the operators of around 65 cents per verification, age verification is effectively 'business-killing.'"
That was music to the ears of other legislators.
Similar laws have been passed in Texas, Virginia, Utah, Mississippi, Montana.
"In just over a year, age-verification laws have become perhaps the most bipartisan policy in the country, and they are creating havoc in a porn industry that many had considered all but impossible to actually regulate."
Pornhub’s response to age verification outside of Louisiana has been both drastic and encouraging. The site has shut down completely in Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia. In those states instead of sex, users get a screenshot that moans about age verification and how that is unsafe for viewers. Pornhub urges people who want to remain anonymous and unverified to call their legislators to complain about losing their secret sex sessions.
Amazingly enough, some did just that.
Legislators remain undaunted. Polling is swing states finds that porn age verification is a winning issue. An overwhelming 77% support the laws while a mere 15% object and possibly make desperate, irate calls to their legislators.
Naturally lawsuits have been filed by industry shills called the Free Speech Coalition. In Utah, the case was dismissed by a federal judge and we hope other judges will follow suit.
Red state legislators are on a roll that we hope continues.
Official disapproval of cultural decline can be an important guardrail for a society where almost all guardrails have been dismantled.
Now if they will only address the colonization of public spaces by crazy people and drug addicts our larger cities will once again be civilized.
(A related article may be found here.)
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.