What Global Legal Challenges Face Adult Industry Professionals in 2023?
The adult entertainment market is ever-changing. Pornography is a global phenomenon that both unites and divides cultures. Unfortunately, there are a lot of powerful people all around the world who have developed a moral panic or worldview about issues pertaining to adult entertainment. The adult business is thought of as the wild west and simply a hub for corruption and criminal activity.
Although that is untrue—as we all know—this idea permeates people of all political views and spreads like a virus.
However, Adult Business Consulting and our industry partners continue to collaborate on a purpose to celebrate human sexuality and the freedom of expression in all its forms and creative disciplines that is both morally and legally appropriate. Despite having these goals, we must continue to be realistic in our business transactions because our industry continues to face legal and legislative obstacles in countries all over the world. In this blog post, we briefly discuss the legal difficulties people working in the adult business may face in 2023 and beyond.
At Adult Business Consulting, we are concerned about several issues. In a previous post, we discussed some of the more significant issues the industry will face in the coming year that are related to the United States. This will include a more global perspective, mentioning various ongoing legal matters and regulatory tendencies in Asia and Europe.
Why Should Adult Professionals Pay Attention to Legal Issues?
Professionals in the adult entertainment sector have an extra duty to ensure that legal compliance is being met, regardless of where they are in the world. This includes the requirement to keep up with local legislative and political developments that permit or impose restrictions on the activities of porn creation, the operation of websites, or the marketing of products for sexual wellness. The ability of the industry to operate in a particular jurisdiction without breaking any criminal or civil laws is another important factor to keep an eye on. Common courts and the local judiciary frequently deal with matters related to contracts, torts, and intellectual property disputes.
Stay Aware of Changes in Local and National Laws
Consider the USA as an example. Because of the United States’ huge concentration of the adult business and its related industries, the legal, legislative, and political environment there has an impact on people all over the world. The adult entertainment markets in Europe are comparable. With such a large concentration, the United States and Europe may have both direct and indirect effects on the ability of the industry to survive and remain generally legal in nations where sex work and emancipation are highly taboo subjects. For instance, Thailand is a well-liked destination for sex travel. Thailand’s metropolis, Bangkok, is renowned across the world for its sex business and red-light districts. However, sex work is permitted even if it is still unlawful. Otherwise, it is prohibited to create pornographic material or run a pornographic website. Even if the authorities in the Kingdom of Thailand don’t always enforce this ban on pornography (a little money goes a long way), the truth still stands that this kind of content is punishable by jail time, fines, and other civil and criminal sanctions.
Pornography, on the other hand, is acceptable to see and create in Germany. However, recent civil cases and local laws have had a direct impact on who can access prominent online video sharing services. The adult entertainment sector has long come under fire from the federal government of Germany and its numerous state-level administrations for failing to implement invasive age verification procedures to stop minors from accessing such age-restricted content. Journalists and news organizations covering the adult entertainment industry, like XBIZ’s Gustavo Turner, YNOT’s Gene Zorkin, and Michael McGrady, are paying attention to this ongoing legal issue in Germany. Because the conventional business news media ignores the potentially wide-ranging effects when courts and regulators try to crack down on one area, they place a lot of emphasis on specific jurisdictions. Regulations requiring age verification could have unjustified and disproportionate effects on other sectors of the economy, such as the video game industry and organizations’ access to LGBTQ+ and sexual health information.
The Legal Landscape: Lessons from Europe
The legal environment for the adult entertainment sector is very difficult in the new year. As we indicated above, one specific situation that we would like to go into more detail about is the age verification problem that is roiling Germany. The popular pornographic video website xHamster.com was blacklisted in Germany for allegedly not doing enough to keep children from accessing it. It is understandable that this type of policy, which has spread to France, is alarming to both the European Union and the United States. Cherie Deville, a critically recognized porn actress and a columnist for The Daily Beast, wrote about the age-verification legislative drive in Germany and its overall result: “I want minors to stop watching porn, but government age verifications aren’t the solution.” Of course, Deville refers to the necessity for parents to fulfill their roles as caregivers. However, the scenery is worth mentioning. Particularly in France and Germany, openly anti-porn personalities have attacked tube sites. A few months ago, pornographic websites in France and Germany were ordered blocked by courts after pressure from anti-porn groups and lawmakers over their alleged violation of contested age verification laws. However, there has been a lot of disagreement and controversy over these measures among the people in these regions. However, the outcome has led to legal disputes between the businesses that own tube websites like xHamster and XVIDEOS, certain governments, who are ostensibly supporters of free speech, have openly prohibited access to certain websites, which has resulted in censorship.
Finally, the judicial system around the world should pay attention to Europe. Litigation that will determine the direction of the sector will be rampant in the following year and the years that follow. We at Adult Business Consulting advise all our customers and associates in the global adult entertainment market to remain vigilant and keep up with current events. The websites AVN.com, YNOT.com and XBIZ.com do an excellent job of covering all these stories. Charting short- and long-term outlooks requires considering every change in the many legal and legislative fields.
Read more from the Adult Business Consulting blog.
Adult Business Consulting thanks you for reading this blog post. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions.