Adult World News

A Thai government committee drafting a new law governing prostitution has agreed that voluntary sexual service without any criminal penalties should be allowed from sex workers of 20 years of age or greater.

Jintana Chanbamroong, head of the Department of Women's Affairs and Family Development at Social Development and Human Security Ministry, said after presiding over a meeting of the committee drafting the new law that public hearings both online and on-site were held in five cities including Bangkok, Chonburi and Hat Yai.

It is initially called the Draft Act for the Protection of Sexual Services B.E. 206 and is planned to replace the current Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act from 1996.

Sex workers will have rights and be entitled to welfare in the labour system without being identified as a sex worker. They will also have the right to fair compensation but must undergo health checks to ensure they are not infected with any contagious diseases. However prostitution that falls in the category of human trafficking, such as procurement or coercion, would still be a violation of the Human Trafficking Act.

Brothel operators will be required to not violate the conditions for protecting service providers who are their employees and only operate in specific zones, particularly not near educational institutions or places of worship. Also will be stipulated is that it is prohibited to engage in sexual relations with prostitutes under 20 years of age with those procuring and luring them into prostitution too being liable for criminal penalties.

This draft law is expected to be completed and will be tabled to the new government around August this year.

 

Update: Bill being drafted

16th March 2023. See article from thethaiger.com

The Thai government is now drafting a bill to legalise sex work to protect sex workers from exploitation. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) has proposed the bill, which will also limit the minimum age to provide or buy the service

According to Narong Jaihan, a lecturer from the Faculty of Law at Thammasat University, sex workers under 20 will not be penalised, but legal action will be taken against business operators who employ them underage, as well as their parents.

A Canadian private equity firm has acquired MindGeek, the company behind Pornhub, YouPorn, and other major porn sites. The Financial Times reported that newly formed Ethical Capital Partners have acquired MindGeek for an undisclosed amount and that it will continue to operate under an unidentified group of current executives alongside an ECP management team that includes lawyers and former cannabis investors.

MindGeek owns some of the highest-trafficked sites on the internet. Long-standing moderation problems reached a tipping point in 2020 when Visa and Mastercard both cut off service to Pornhub, prompting it to remove most of its videos and build out a mandatory age verification system for uploaders and producers.

While MindGeek got payment services restored to Pornhub, the payment processors have continued to deny access to its ad network TrafficJunky. Legal challenges against the site remain ongoing, and it could face further pressure as US lawmakers push to weaken liability protections for websites under Section 230. MindGeek's CEO and COO, Feras Antoon and David Tassillo, both stepped down in mid-2022.

Playboy has announced plans to relaunch its famed magazine as a digital-first publication that will serve as the entryway to its burgeoning creator platform.

The Playboy Centerfold platform launched in December 2021. The company also said that the Centerfold name will be retired with the magazine relaunch, and the creator portal will be integrated into its new digital iteration.

Playboy chief brand officer Rachel Webber said:

We're putting the power of content creation in the hands of the creative community and giving them the tools to interact with and monetize their fanbases directly.

The company said it will feature the Playboy platform's most successful and up-and-coming creators in editorial features, cover shoots, Playboy fashion spreads and more. A company spokesperson added that:

The platform differs from other creator sites in that while we allow nudity, we do not allow explicit content/pornography.

The print edition of Playboy ceased publication in March 2020 citing the general decline in sales for print as well as the then-emerging COVID-19 virus' impact on production and supply chains.

The Arkansas House has approved an amendment to SB 66, a Republican bill that would require age verification before entering a website offering pornography, over confusing language. SB 66 was introduced in January by state Senator Tyler Dees, who later admitted that his state initiative is only a steppingstone toward the ultimate goal of a federal mandate.

A vote in the Arkansas House sent the amended bill back to the Committee on House Rules for further consideration, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. Representative Mindy McAlindon told the paper that the amendment was needed to clarify distinctions between 'corporate entities' and 'third party vendors' in the bill.

SB 66 is a copycat version of Louisiana's Act 440, a new law enacted in January after being championed by a religious anti-porn activist Republican legislator.

Meanwhile Virginia lawmakers recently passed a bill with near-unanimous support that would require pornography websites to more stringently verify whether a person is 18 before allowing them access to the site. Websites would have to implement more advanced methods of their choosing to verify age, such as requiring users to submit copies of government-issued identification, biometric scans or use other forms of commercial age verification software.

Under the bill, a civil cause of action, or a lawsuit, could be brought on behalf of a minor who suffered damages from access to pornographic websites that didn't use age verification measures. No one spoke in opposition when the bill was debated during the session, but some people took to social media to express their concerns.

The bill now heads to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk for his signature.

The US state of Louisiana has commenced a new law requiring porn websites to obtain identity/age verification before allow access to viewers. The law is not enforced by official censors. Instead it simply allows Louisiana to sue for damages for any harm claimed as a result of underage porn viewing. So how is it panning out in practice?

It is the second week of the new law. Vice has found that very few sites have actually implemented the age verification system. As it stands, only PornHub and OnlyFans check Louisiana's residents' ages, others don't.

This may have something to do with the way the age check is implemented: when you access PornHub from Louisiana, you're met with a screen asking you to verify your age. From there, you're redirected to AllPassTrust, a Cyprus-based company specialized in age verification. AllPassTrust links to LAWallet, the state of Louisiana's digital driver's license wallet, which provides you with a code that you need to enter on AllPassTrust.

The way it's looking now, only Louisiana drivers licenses are accepted for verification, which is a problem for anybody currently in the state that doesn't have one. Sure, practically everybody in the United States has a driver's license, but there are those who don't, and visitors or short-term residents of the state won't be able to verify their age since they won't have a license issued in Louisiana.

According to local Louisiana newspaper L'Observateur, opponents are already gearing up for a legal challenge.

The idea is spreading though. There are reports of national politicians proposing similar laws to Louisiana.

Also two Republican state senators in Arkansas introduced a bill this week requiring age verification before entering a website offering pornography. Senate Bill 66, which proposes a Protection of Minors from Distribution of Harmful Material Act, is sponsored by Sen. Tyler Dees and Sen. Jim Petty. The proposed legislation is a copycat version of Louisiana's new law.

Channel 4 is launching a brand new dating show with a raunchy new twist.

The channel is lining up a new show where couples will be encouraged to have internet connected virtual sex on their first date.

Contestants will be provided with Bluetooth sex toys so they can get intimate with each other online, and later meet in person if they strike up a connection.

A TV insider said: Channel 4 has aired some bizarre dating shows, but this will be the most outrageous.

Channel 4 made a pilot towards the end of last year and the next phase is screen-testing it to audiences. Under the working title Sex First , single people will be introduced to each other online as avatars before ramping up their chemistry by having online sex, thanks to the Bluetooth-synced sex toys. If the pairs like what they experience and enjoy their first sexual encounter together, they can then meet to see if the bond is just as compatible in real life.

Let's hope that the remote sex toy feed could be shared with a network dildo equipped audience. Now that would be fun.

Facebook and Instagram will allow transgender and non-binary users to flash their bare breasts -- but women who were born female are still not allowed a similar freedom, according to Meta's advisory board.

Meta's Oversight Board -- an independent body which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called the company's Supreme Court for content moderation and censorship policies -- ordered Facebook and Instagram to lift a ban on images of topless women for anyone who identifies as transgender or non-binary, meaning they view themselves as neither male or female.

The same image of female-presenting nipples would be prohibited if posted by a cisgender woman but permitted if posted by an individual self-identifying as non-binary, the board noted in its decision.

The board cited a recent decision to overturn a ban on two Instagram posts by a couple that describes themselves as transgender and non-binary that posed topless but covered their nipples -- only to have the post flagged by other users. Meta banned the image, but the couple won their appeal and the photo was restored online.

Meta will rely on human reviewers will now be tasked with trying to determine the sex of breasts.

Taiwan's Legislature has passed draft amendments to restrict the use of technology-enabled sexual images and video. The new laws will make the production and spread of such fake or manipulated images and video for profit a crime punishable by a jail term of up to seven years.

The draft bills were proposed after the arrest in 2021 of a Taiwanese YouTuber for making and selling deepfake pornographic videos of dozens of prominent women, including female politicians.

Under the approved legislation, producing sexual material involving images or video of another individual without that person's consent is subject to a maximum of three years in prison, while the unauthorized distribution of such material can result in a prison term of six months to five years. Anyone found guilty of distributing such content for profit faces an additional punishment of up to one half of the prescribed sentence.