This week’s adult industry news is all about regulation: a federal judge pauses Utah’s VPN age-check rule, California signs new upload and privacy laws for adult sites, the UK readies its choking content ban, and EU lawmakers push to enforce a ban on AI nudifier apps.

If you only follow one corner of adult industry news, make it regulation. Over the past week, courts and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic made moves that will shape how adult sites work, what they can host and how visitors get in. Here are the four stories that matter most.

1. Judge Hits Pause on Utah’s VPN Age-Verification Rule

Aylo, the company behind Pornhub, has won a preliminary injunction against part of Utah’s age-verification law, according to PCMag. The disputed piece, added through a bill known as SB 73, required adult sites to age-verify Utah users even when they hide their location with a VPN, a proxy server or similar tools.

Aylo sued in April, arguing that the rule asked for something technically impossible. Its point was simple: there is no reliable way to know where a VPN user actually is, so the only safe option would be to age-verify every visitor worldwide. The company told the court the provision would turn a state law into “a de facto global mandate.”

U.S. District Judge David Barlow agreed for now. He wrote that “geolocation perfection is not presently possible” and found Aylo “likely to succeed on the merits.” The judge also pointed to Aylo’s estimate of roughly 1.26 million monthly visits from English-language browsers in the Mountain Time Zone. Under Utah’s proposed detection method, VPN users in that group could be swept in whether they were in Utah, Colorado or anywhere else.

The injunction is temporary, lasting “until further order of this court,” so this isn’t the final word. Meanwhile, PCMag notes that Aylo’s sites remain blocked in 25 U.S. states as a protest against state age-verification laws.

2. California Signs a Tough New Upload Law for Adult Sites

The biggest adult entertainment news out of California this week is AB 1705, which Governor Gavin Newsom has signed, XBIZ reports. The law targets any adult site that lets users or creators upload content, and XBIZ says it goes further than the federal 2257 record-keeping rules.

Under the new law, uploaders must give an email address and sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that everyone shown was an adult when the content was made, agreed to appear in it and agreed to its upload. Sites must verify that email before allowing uploads and keep the records for at least seven years.

The penalties are serious. People depicted in content can sue for up to $75,000 per violation, plus punitive damages and legal fees, while public prosecutors can seek $25,000 per violation. Each day non-compliant content stays up counts as a separate violation. The law takes effect January 1.

3. Some Relief on Privacy Lawsuits

Newsom also gave online businesses, including adult sites, a bit of good news. XBIZ reports he signed SB 690, which narrows the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The old statute had fueled a wave of lawsuits claiming that websites used cookies and trackers before getting visitors’ permission.

Under SB 690, only the state attorney general can sue over CIPA violations, and the change partly applies to some pending claims filed since January 1, 2025. In his signing message, Newsom said the bill targets “the vexatious use of CIPA lawsuits and demand letters.” Industry attorney Corey Silverstein called the change “significant.” He still advised businesses to keep a close eye on what their tracking tools actually collect and share.

4. UK “Choking” Ban and EU Deepfake Fight Heat Up

Across the Atlantic, the UK is getting close to enforcing its ban on pornographic depictions of strangulation or suffocation. According to XBIZ, the Crime and Policing Bill, passed in April, makes possessing such material punishable by up to two years in prison and publishing it by up to five. A Ministry of Justice minister, Lord Lemos, said the government is working to bring the offences into force “this autumn,” and LBC reports officials will announce a date in due course. The same law also bans content in which adults portray characters under 16.

XBIZ notes it’s still unclear what criteria regulator Ofcom will use to judge content.

Meanwhile in Brussels, Politico reports that 50 Members of the European Parliament, 46 of them women, have been targeted by deepfake porn, according to a report from the civil society group Agora Digitale Transformation. The EU’s ban on AI-powered nudifier apps starts December 2. A cross-party group of 119 MEPs has written to EU leaders calling for strict enforcement. The report’s co-author also wants payment processors and domain registrars held accountable, and nudifier sites removed from search engines.

Why This Adult Industry News Matters to You

For everyday viewers, the takeaway is that age checks, upload rules and AI safeguards are spreading quickly, and the legal fights over them are far from over. Courts are testing how far states can go, while lawmakers are zeroing in on consent and fake content. We’ll keep tracking the latest porn industry news and adult entertainment updates here on the XStream blog, so check back next week.

Sources

• PCMag: Pornhub Beats Back Utah’s Controversial VPN-Age Verification Law (For Now)
• XBIZ: California Enacts Stricter UGC Rules for Adult Sites
• XBIZ: California Governor Signs Bill Limiting CIPA Claims
• XBIZ: UK Aims to Begin Enforcing ‘Choking’ Ban Before Year’s End
• LBC: Ban on strangulation and incest in porn to come into force this autumn
• Politico Europe: 50 members of European Parliament targeted by deepfake porn, report says