Business Attacks

SAN FRANCISCO — Discord, the popular chat and community platform, confirmed that one of its third-party vendors experienced a major data breach that exposed the personal information of about 70,000 users, including photos of government-issued identification cards.

The affected vendor was responsible for processing age-verification submissions and appeals on behalf of Discord. The company has not yet named the vendor but indicated that the breach was the result of a cyberattack exploiting a Zendesk instance, allegedly part of an extortion attempt targeting both the vendor and Discord.

Early reports suggested that roughly 1.5 terabytes of data were stolen—around 2.2 million images tied to age-verification records. However, Discord said the actual scope was smaller than initially claimed.

“This was not a breach of our internal systems,” a Discord spokesperson told The Verge. “The attack targeted a third-party service we use to support our customer service operations. Approximately 70,000 users may have had government-ID photos exposed, which the vendor used for age-related appeal reviews.”

The company added that all affected users have been notified. “We’ve secured the affected systems, ended our relationship with the compromised vendor, and continue to cooperate with law enforcement, data protection authorities, and external security experts,” the spokesperson said. “We take our responsibility to protect user data seriously and understand the concern this may cause.”

Discord also disclosed that other personal details—including names, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, and the last four digits of some users’ credit cards—were included in the compromised data.

While Discord remains best known for its role in gaming culture and online communities, it has also become a hub for artists, streamers, and adult creators who use the platform to interact with fans and build digital communities. The service allows users over 18 to share adult-oriented material within designated, age-restricted spaces.

Strike 3 Holdings, a company that describes its films as “high quality,” “feminist,” and “ethical” adult videos, has filed a lawsuit against Meta in federal court in California, accusing the tech giant of infringing its copyrights by using Strike 3’s content to train artificial intelligence models. The complaint, filed in July, claims Meta has been torrenting and seeding the company’s videos since 2018. Supporting exhibits and details were unsealed last week.

According to the lawsuit, Meta sought Strike 3’s content because it offered angles and extended uninterrupted scenes that are “rare in mainstream movies and TV,” allegedly giving Meta an edge in developing what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls AI “superintelligence.”

“They have an interest in getting our content because it can give them a competitive advantage for the quality, fluidity, and humanity of the AI,” said Christian Waugh, an attorney for Strike 3.

The filing alleges Meta BitTorrented and distributed 2,396 of Strike 3’s copyrighted videos, making them accessible to minors since the BitTorrent protocol does not include age verification. The complaint further asserts that Meta used the adult videos “for distribution as currency to support its downloading of a vast array of other content necessary to train its AI models.”

The exhibits list not only Strike 3 titles but also mainstream television shows such as Yellowstone, Modern Family, The Bachelor, South Park, and Downton Abbey. They also include pornographic videos produced by others that appear to feature very young actors, with titles such as ExploitedTeens, Anal Teens, and EuroTeenErotica. In addition, the list contains files related to weapons (3D Gun Print, Gun Digest Shooter’s Guide to the AR-15) and political material (Antifa’s Radical Plan and Intellectual Property Rights in Cyberspace).

Using adult content as training data is “a public relations disaster waiting to happen,” said Matthew Sag, a professor of law specializing in artificial intelligence at Emory University. “Imagine a middle school student asks a Meta AI model for a video about pizza delivery, and before you know it, it’s porn.”

Strike 3 says it identified the alleged violations through infringement-detection systems it operates and traced activity to 47 Meta-affiliated IP addresses. The company is seeking $350 million in statutory damages.

Christopher Sgro, a Meta spokesperson, said: “We’re reviewing the complaint, but we don’t believe Strike’s claims are accurate.”

The lawsuit draws attention to Meta’s V-JEPA 2 “world model,” released in June, which the company says was trained on 1 million hours of “internet video,” a term the complaint highlights as vague. Zuckerberg has described Meta’s goal as putting “the power of superintelligence into people’s hands to direct it toward what they value in their own lives.”

According to the complaint, Meta executives deliberately approved the use of pirated material, with Zuckerberg’s sign-off. Nearly every major AI company faces similar copyright suits.

“The case being presented against Meta is perhaps the case of the century because of the sheer scope of infringement,” Waugh said, adding that the unsealed exhibits represent only “a thin slice of the pie.”

AI companies often defend themselves by claiming that their technologies are “transformative” and thus protected under fair use. Former President Donald Trump voiced support for this view in July, saying: “You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book, or anything else that you’ve read or studied you’re supposed to pay for.”

In June, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Meta did not break the law in training its AI models on the works of 13 authors in a separate case, Kadrey v. Meta. However, he clarified that the decision “stands only for the proposition that these plaintiffs made the wrong arguments and failed to develop a record in support of the right one.”

That leaves the door open for Strike 3 to mount a stronger case. “The best version of their argument is: This is a fundamental problem because, by going to these pirate websites, you are undermining the market for access,” Sag explained.

Waugh argued that the dispute underscores a broader issue. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a four-sentence poem or adult entertainment. There is no appetite in this country for what AI companies appear to be doing, which is making money off the backs of rights holders who never gave permission for it.”

SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Bad Orange, a creator of sensual audio stories designed for women, announced that its YouTube channel — which had close to 200,000 followers — was recently removed. In addition, the company’s bank account was closed. Bad Orange is pushing back against these moves, calling them both unfair and hypocritical.

“It is confusing, to put it politely, why we are being subjected to these arbitrary standards in this day and age,” said Larry, a classically trained actor who performs under the pseudonym Daddy Sounds.

He pointed to the broader media landscape to highlight what he views as inconsistent standards. “At a moment when the average issue of Slate contains advice letters about extreme kink and The Daily Beast runs ads for Lovehoney’s Advent calendars, which they call ‘an erotic journey of passion, play, and connection,’ complete with sex toys, it’s rather puzzling why our content is viewed as intolerable,” Larry said. “It’s as if they hate women or something.”

Larry compared Bad Orange’s situation to that of the gaming industry, where adult-oriented game creators have seen thousands of accounts shut down by payment processors, devastating their businesses.

“It’s not right. It’s hypocritical, and we’re going to take action,” he added.

Although Bad Orange managed to establish an alternative method for processing payments, the company described the transition as a time-consuming and difficult administrative process.

Sensual audio content has been gaining popularity among women seeking erotic experiences outside the realm of mainstream adult video.

“Voice content is far more intimate and engaging than video,” Larry explained. “Like radio, it stimulates the listener’s imagination and visualization abilities, which is usually vastly more interesting than anything a camera can record.”

For more details, visit the Bad Orange website.

LOS ANGELES — Twitch has begun verifying the ages of users logging in from United Kingdom IP addresses, according to a Tuesday report from Dexerto.

The streaming platform is the latest to implement strict age verification procedures following the rollout of the Online Safety Act. Under the new rules, U.K. regulator Ofcom requires digital platforms to ensure users pass either a facial scan or submit personal information before gaining access.

“Twitch and k-ID (a third-party vendor we partner with to verify your age) do not store your face scan video selfies,” the company explained. “The video selfie used for facial age estimation is analyzed entirely on your device and will never leave it.”

The move has already drawn backlash. Some Twitch users described the measure as “dystopian,” while others suggested they might stop using the platform altogether.

Adult content creators have long used Twitch to expand their mainstream reach. One prominent example is Amouranth, who streams on both Twitch and Kick and is also an award-winning adult content creator.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia’s Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of adult performer Esperanza Gómez in her dispute with Meta over repeated suspensions of her Instagram account.

The court determined that Meta failed to apply its standards equally, noting that Gómez’s profile had not been treated the same as others with similar content.

“If social media platforms use offline activities as criteria for content moderation, they must clearly state these criteria in their community standards,” the ruling stated. “Due process must also be allowed to reasonably challenge the social media platform’s decision.”

Gómez first filed her case in 2022, arguing that Instagram’s repeated deactivations cost her millions of followers and harmed her “right to work.”

In the decision, authored by Judge Natalia Ángel Cabo, the court ordered Meta to take three corrective measures: establish a visible electronic channel for judicial notifications in Colombia, ensure moderation policies are available in Spanish on a unified website, and revise Instagram’s terms of use and privacy policy so users have clear avenues to contest moderation actions.

Following the ruling, Gómez celebrated the outcome on X. “I continued without listening to the people who told me that I would never win a lawsuit against a giant, and today we are triumphing,” she wrote. “We must know how to defend our rights when they are violated.”

Bluesky confirmed Wednesday that it has begun implementing age verification for users in Wyoming and South Dakota, citing compliance with newly enacted state-level statutes on age checks and social media safety.

“Bluesky users in South Dakota and Wyoming can choose from multiple methods to verify their age. We believe this approach currently strikes the right balance,” the company said in a statement. “Bluesky will remain available to users in these states, and we will not need to restrict the app for everyone.”

The platform added that it intends to keep its community informed as it adapts to shifting regulatory requirements.

To manage compliance, Bluesky is utilizing Kids Web Services (KWS), an age assurance system developed by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite.

The move follows last month’s announcement that users in Mississippi would be blocked from accessing Bluesky altogether due to legal challenges surrounding the state’s social media age verification law, which is currently the subject of federal litigation.

Bluesky has become a favored platform among adult creators and studios, in part because of its relatively permissive approach to nudity and explicit content.

LOS ANGELES — Adult entertainment businesses affected by the Eaton and Palisades wildfires are excluded from applying for emergency relief under a $1 million recovery program launched in early August by Steadfast LA, with funding from the Bank of California wildfire recovery fund, Pasadena Now has reported.

The initiative offers grants of up to $50,000 to qualifying businesses impacted by the fires. Funds are administered by the nonprofit community lender LiftFund, with eligibility limited to companies in Palisades, Malibu, or Altadena that maintain local business checking accounts.

While many types of businesses qualify, the program specifically bars adult entertainment companies, as well as liquor stores, smoke and vape shops, and lending organizations.

“These businesses aren’t faceless storefronts,” said Rick Caruso, founder and chairman of Steadfast LA, in a statement. “They are the fabric of the community. They are made up of people: owners, employees, and loyal customers. They deserve an advocate to help address the challenges they’re facing through no fault of their own.”

Caruso’s statement, however, does not extend to adult entertainment establishments, which remain excluded under the program’s rules.

OnlyFans and some chat agencies have been sued over the use of AI in OnlyFans chats.

Lawyers Suing OnlyFans, ‘Chatter’ Agencies Used AI in Filing AVN

Attorneys representing a class action targeting Fenix International Limited, the parent company of OnlyFans.com, and so-called chatter agencies disclosed on Thursday to a federal district court in Santa Ana, Calif. that they used artificial intelligence to help write a legal complaint outlining alleged RICO allegations.

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Reason opines about how anti-porn groups are coming after games by pressuring payment processors

The anti-porn crusade comes for online games

Activists pressure payment processors, who in turn pressure game marketplaces. Now many video games and visual novels are disappearing.

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