Critics argue that age verification was never about protecting children, but rather about removing porn from the Internet. A video leaked by the Center for Climate Reporting in 2024 showed Russell Vought, a Trump ally and co-author of Project 2025, calling age verification laws a “backdoor” tactic for a federal porn ban.
Sites like OnlyFans and Pornhub have made platform-dependent sex work mainstream, but they've also made it easier to police adult entertainers and consumers. As more states implement additional tariffs on sex work, creators will bear the brunt of the new laws more than anyone else.
The skewed ideology of cultural conservatism taking shape under Trump 2.0 seeks to punish sexual expression, says Mike Stabile, director of public policy at the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the US adult industry. “When we talk about freedom of speech, we usually mean the freedom to speak, the ability to speak freely without government interference. But in this case, free also means not having to pay for the right to do so. A government tax on speech limits that right to those who can afford it.”
As per company policy, OnlyFans complies with all tax requirements in the jurisdictions in which it operates. Creators are responsible for their own tax affairs. Pornhub, which is currently blocked in Utah and Alabama, did not respond to a request for comment.
Douek notes that following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold age verification laws in Texas, states can legally regulate minors' access to sexually explicit material, “but a porn tax does nothing to limit minors' access to this speech — it just makes it more expensive to offer this content to adults.” A 2022 report from youth nonprofit Common Sense Media found that 73 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 have viewed adult content online. Today, young people regularly access NSFW content through social media, on platforms like X and Snap. Last year, a study by the UK Office of the Children's Commissioner reported that 59 percent of minors are accidentally exposed to porn, mainly through social media, up from 38 percent in 2023.
