Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Trending Now Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky . When new technology emerges, pornography soon follows.

Alabama passed a 10 percent porn tax last year, as Utah and Pennsylvania eye similar bills. Half the country has enacted age-verification laws to prevent minors from viewing porn. As age-verification laws continue to dismantle the adult industry--and determine the future of free speech on the internet --a Utah lawmaker proposed a bill this week that would enforce a tax on porn sites that operate within the state. Introduced by state senator Calvin Musselman, a Republican, the bill would impose a 7 percent tax on total receipts "from sales, distributions, memberships, subscriptions, performances, and content amounting to material harmful to minors that is produced, sold, filmed, generated, or otherwise based" in Utah. If passed, the bill would go into effect in May and would also require adult sites to pay a $500 annual fee to the State Tax Commission.