California’s age-verification bill, AB 3080, is effectively dead after its potential price tag landed it in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Suspense File. The Free Speech Coalition was active in its opposition to AB 3080, testifying against the bill in committee hearings, meeting with legislators, and rallying allies, industry members and fans to speak out against the bill. In June, following extensive discussions with Assm. Alanis, and the introduction of several amendments addressing FSC’s key concerns, FSC withdrew its formal opposition to the bill. However, privacy and civil liberties advocates including Electronic Frontier Foundation, FIRE, ACLU and Woodhull Freedom Foundation remained actively opposed. Read more on our blog.

In a 2-1 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has granted Indiana a stay of the preliminary injunction that was granted in June, allowing Act 17, the State’s age-verification law, to go into effect. Adult businesses should be aware that the State’s Attorney General can now begin enforcing the law. Additionally, the law permits residents of Indiana to bring a civil suit against sites with “material harmful to minors.” Free Speech Coalition’s challenge to Texas’s age-verification law is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court in the upcoming term. The Seventh Circuit panel majority ruled that since the Texas law remains in effect during the appeal, so should Indiana’s law. Read more on our blog.

Former Trump staffer and Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought revealed in a hidden-camera video that the initiative is entering a secretive phase aimed at banning pornography through age verification laws, rather than direct legislation. Vought’s comments highlight Project 2025’s broader agenda to enforce conservative policies and reshape American governance if Trump returns to the White House. Despite efforts by the Trump campaign to distance itself from the initiative, Vought's involvement underscores its significance within Republican policy circles. Read more on XBIZ.

The Democratic Party's 2024 platform has removed language from the 2020 platform that committed to protecting the lives of sex workers, including women of color and transgender women. This omission has drawn criticism, particularly in light of Vice President Kamala Harris's controversial support for the FOSTA-SESTA legislation and her past actions as San Francisco district attorney, which align with the criminalizing Nordic Model of sex work. Read more on XBIZ.