The company sent letters to Apple, Google, and Microsoft pushing for an alternative way to keep minors from viewing porn, as US and UK laws have caused its traffic to plummet. In letters sent to Apple, Google, and Microsoft this week, Pornhub's parent company urged the tech giants to support device-based age verification in their app stores and across their operating systems, WIRED has learned. "Based on our real-world experience with existing age assurance laws, we strongly support the initiative to protect minors online," reads the letter sent by Anthony Penhale, chief legal officer for Aylo, which owns Pornhub, Brazzers, Redtube, and YouPorn. "However, we have found site-based age assurance approaches to be fundamentally flawed and counterproductive." The letter adds that site-based age verification methods have "failed to achieve their primary objective: protecting minors from accessing age-inappropriate material online."

It was evening in Berlin and Alex Kekesi was surrounded by pornstars. Venus, the international adult entertainment convention, was underway, and Kekesi happened to be at dinner with several well-known creators when the discussion shifted to generative AI. Kekesi listened as a few of the women shared similar stories from set. They expressed frustrations about their likeness being exploited. They talked of having to physically cross out language in their contract before filming.