California Republicans, Democrats Team Up to Advance Age Verification for Porn

California Republicans, Democrats Team Up to Advance Age Verification for Porn

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Both Republicans and Democrats in the California Assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee voted last week to move forward a version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists.

As the Sacramento Bee explained on Tuesday, members of both parties “sided with conservative religious organizations against LGBTQ, reproductive health and civil liberty advocacy groups and voted unanimously in favor of AB 3080, a bill by Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) that would require pornographic websites ‘to take reasonable steps to ensure’ that only adults are looking at them.”

The state capital’s paper of record also noted that AB 3080 is backed by Exodus Cry, the California Catholic Conference, California Family Council, Concerned Women for America, Family Policy Alliance, the Pacific Justice Institute Center for Public Policy and other conservative groups, both religious and secular.

As XBIZ reported, Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Alison Boden testified last week against AB 3080, describing it as “a terribly flawed bill that never should have advanced out of committee, especially not one focused on consumer privacy.”

FSC was also mentioned by the Sacramento Bee as one of the groups urging California legislators to reject the bill, a roster which also includes Advocates for Youth, Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement and Research, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), GLSEN, National Abortion Federation, Netchoice and Reproaction.

“Age verification laws don’t just impact young people,” EFF warned through a statement. “It’s necessary to confirm the ages of all website visitors. It is a significant privacy violation to require all people to submit either their official government-issued identification credentials, or to delve into their transactional history — including ‘bank account information’ — to attempt to determine their age, particularly if that person is an adult for whom there are no restrictions to view such material.”

If AB 3080 becomes law, the Sacramento Bee’s Andrew Sheeler wrote, California “would join a host of red states, including Texas, in requiring online age verification for porn. When Texas passed its version of the law, online porn giant Pornhub announced that it would no longer accept web traffic from that state. Could that happen in California next?”

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Go.cam Launches Free Age Verification Solution, Anti-Fraud Features

Go.cam has announced that its age verification solution is now free with updated anti-fraud and identity protection features.

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

German Higher Court Upholds Ban on PornHub, YouPorn

The Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday upheld a “network ban” on Aylo-owned adult sites Pornhub and YouPorn for failing to comply with German age verification regulations.

Show More