The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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It started the way a lot of policy shifts do in Washington—quietly, almost casually, with a few carefully chosen words that hinted at something much bigger. Federal Trade Commission commissioner Mark Meador, a figure aligned with a right-wing populist wing of the Republican Party, publicly backed age verification as a “better way” to shield minors from age-restricted online material that’s still protected by the First Amendment.
Meador has served on the Federal Trade Commission since his appointment and Senate confirmation in April 2025. His comments surfaced during an FTC-hosted workshop on January 28, a long, technical day that brought together experts and critics of age-verification laws and technology, including representatives connected to the adult-entertainment space.
But the room itself told another story. As previously reported, adult-industry companies and other key stakeholders—including the Free Speech Coalition—were conspicuously absent. According to an anonymous source, the workshop was planned with a built-in assumption that the industry had little credibility when it came to online safety for minors.
That exclusion didn’t go unnoticed. Several stakeholder groups said the adult industry was shut out not just from the panels, but from the planning process entirely. When you start deciding who gets a seat at the table—and who doesn’t—you’re already shaping the outcome.
“Age verification offers a better way—it offers a way to unleash American innovation without compromising the health and well-being of America’s most important resource: its children,” Meador said. “It is a tool that empowers rather than replaces America’s parents — really, I don’t know that we can afford to forego it.”
His enthusiasm didn’t come out of thin air. Meador’s position closely tracks with endorsements of age-verification laws and technology from conservative and far-right groups that have long opposed pornography and the companies that produce or distribute it. At the same time, even supporters admit the legal landscape is a mess—something that came up repeatedly in legal panels at AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas just last week.
Meador’s alliances are also telling. He has ties to prominent anti-pornography figures like Utah Senator Mike Lee and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Lee has repeatedly introduced federal bills targeting adult platforms, often through age-verification mandates and penalties. Paxton, for his part, was sued by the Free Speech Coalition and other adult-industry companies over enforcement actions in Texas.
Right now, roughly half of U.S. states have age-verification laws on the books. Penalties can range from civil fines to criminal charges. During the FTC workshop, several speakers openly backed child-protection proposals pending in Congress, including the controversial Kids Online Safety Act and the SCREEN Act.
FTC chair Andrew Ferguson, also a Republican, echoed support for age verification as a means of complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Central to his view is the expectation that businesses deploy third-party age-verification tools—such as those offered by companies like Yoti and Incode—to prevent what he described as “innovative ways of breaking the law.”
All of this is unfolding inside an agency with an unusual power imbalance. Ferguson and Meador are currently the only two commissioners steering the FTC. Investigative reporting by Al Jazeera has noted that both men have expressed strong support for using regulatory authority to suppress certain forms of LGBTQ+ speech.
The story isn’t over. Federal age-verification policy is still taking shape across the FTC, the broader executive branch, and Congress. What’s clear already is that the debate isn’t just about technology or children—it’s about who gets heard, who gets sidelined, and how much privacy anyone is expected to give up along the way.
