Matt Mullenweg, the chief executive of Tumblr parent company Automattic said that the “casually porn-friendly era of the early internet is currently impossible” as he looked to explain why Tumblr and other sites will never go back to freely available adult content.
After widespread and inaccurate speculation that Tumblr would lift its ban on adult content, Mullenweg posted a long explanation of why Tumblr will never go back to the old days. The internet has fundamentally change its stance on pornography, the head of Tumblr has said.
Tumblr was once known for lax attitudes towards pornography that helped make it one of the most popular sites on the internet. But in 2018, new owner Verizon banned such content, introducing restrictive rules that kept it off the platform.
Why is returning to that era impossible? For now, it’s largely because of intermediaries that play a massive role in how people access the web. Payment processors have long been leery of adult content, and they’ve stepped up enforcement in recent years, in part because of concerns about child abuse and non-consensual pornography. Apple’s iOS App Store has been staunchly opposed to it since launch. And without those two pieces of infrastructure, running a for-profit site is incredibly difficult. “If Apple permanently banned Tumblr from the App Store, we’d probably have to shut the service down,” Mullenweg noted. Some non-profit sites that do allow things like explicit artwork have remained persistently web-only despite years of requests for apps.
Meanwhile, porn companies have their own stack of payment processing services, but they’re typically far more expensive — something that nearly got adult performers banned from the subscription platform OnlyFans last year.
The issue is compounded by new rules about age verification and anti-sex work laws like FOSTA-SESTA. Some of these laws are meant to combat unambiguously harmful phenomena like non-consensual pornography, but they also add substantial legal oversight. Why can both Reddit and Twitter, fairly unusually for modern social networks, allow a lot of porn? “Ask Apple, because I don’t know,” says Mullenweg. He speculates that Twitter and Reddit are both too big to ban, although Apple has forced moderation changes even for giant services like Facebook.
The overall upshot: “If you wanted to start an adult social network in 2022, you’d need to be web-only on iOS and side-load on Android, take payment in crypto, have a way to convert crypto to fiat for business operations without being blocked, do a ton of work in age and identity verification and compliance so you don’t go to jail, protect all of that identity information so you don’t dox your users, and make a ton of money.”
Pornhub, OnlyFans and Major Cams Platforms Confront Italy’s New Age-Check Rules
Italy has formally named 45 porn and porn-adjacent websites that must introduce stricter age verification from November 12, 2025, as the country becomes the latest to tighten access to adult content.
The Italian communications regulator AGCOM has published a list of services it classifies as providing pornographic material in Italy. The roster includes Aylo-owned platforms Pornhub, Redtube, and YouPorn, along with xHamster, camming site Chaturbate, and subscription giant OnlyFans, among others.
Under the new framework, all sites on the list will be required to verify that users connecting from Italy are 18 or older through certified third-party providers. These verification partners may include dedicated age-check services, banks, or mobile operators that already hold verified customer data. Crucially, the process is expected to be repeated each time a user visits one of the listed platforms, rather than operating as a one-time verification per site, as is the case in some other markets, such as the UK.
Italy’s legal basis for porn age verification came into force in May, but platforms were granted a grace period until November 12. Only now has the full list of affected services been disclosed, and it features many of the industry’s largest brands. The move comes as critics of age verification argue that strict regimes tend to push traffic away from the biggest, more heavily scrutinized platforms and toward smaller sites that may be less compliant or less transparent.
In the UK, where tougher age checks for porn access were introduced in July, Pornhub has claimed that traffic from the country fell by 77 percent after the new rules took effect. According to parent company Aylo, users are not abandoning adult content altogether but are instead gravitating toward platforms that have not yet implemented – or are not yet being forced to implement – comparable verification systems.
Subsequent traffic data has indicated that, as visits to major porn brands decreased, some smaller adult sites experienced a corresponding rise in UK user numbers. At the same time, the UK regulator Ofcom has opened investigations into a range of pornography services, including lesser-known sites it alleges are not complying with the updated rules.
In Italy, platforms that appear on AGCOM’s list and fail to adopt compliant age verification procedures by November 12 risk facing penalties of up to 250,000 euros (around 290,000 US dollars). Observers expect that the regulator will add more services to the list over time as enforcement develops and new sites are identified.
Italy is also one of five EU member states that have piloted an age verification application developed by the European Commission. The tool is intended to provide a privacy-preserving way to prove that a user is over 18, with potential future use in porn age verification systems across the bloc.
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Go.cam Strengthens Defenses Against Video-Based Spoofing
Video spoofing is increasingly undermining digital age verification, with fraudsters using pre-recorded clips to bypass security checks. As regulators demand stronger compliance, providers are stepping up their defenses.
Go.cam introduced new measures designed to identify and block spoofed attempts more effectively. The platform leverages: • Fraud detection mechanisms that spot manipulated videos. • AI-powered liveness verification to counter evolving tactics. • Continuous updates that maintain compliance with global standards.
“By staying ahead of spoofing threats, we’re not just protecting platforms, we are safeguarding the confidence of every user who relies on us,” says Marco Forastieri, Marketing Director of Go.cam.
About Go.cam Go.cam is a leader in secure age verification technology, empowering businesses with reliable, compliant, and user-friendly solutions. By combining cutting-edge AI with industry expertise, Go.cam delivers peace of mind to organizations and their users worldwide.
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