NEW DELHI — India’s increasingly powerful Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) yesterday published proposed new rules that would give the government sweeping control over social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit, digital news publications and streaming sites — including the power to punish them for “porn” and “obscenity.”

After scrutiny from digital rights organizations like the Internet Freedom Foundation and influential tech news sources like Mashable India, however, MeitY backpedaled, announcing later in the day that it had “decided to withdraw the proposal and that the proposal may be released again next week.”

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a religious nationalist with authoritarian tendencies who came to power in 2014, “wants to arm itself with powers to overturn decisions of top social media companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google and Instagram to suspend, block or remove accounts of users over various violations, and is also seeking new levers that will force the internet majors to take down content when directed on a user’s complaint,” India’s leading newspaper The Times of India reported today.

The draft shared yesterday by MeitY, which is headed by MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, essentially turns a single government office, the Orwellian “Grievance Appellate Committee,” into India’s “all-powerful” online censorship authority, The Times noted. Legal researcher Gurshabad Grover told the newspaper that the new measures “will give the government the ‘final word’ when it comes to content removal or reinstatement of suspended accounts.”

According to Grover’s analysis, “indirectly, the government will be able to censor content that they otherwise will not be able to do directly in a manner consistent with the laws.”

The Internet Freedom Foundation published an explainer pointing out that although Rule 3(1)(b) of the original 2021 IT Rules already asks “social media platforms to inform their users that they should not post content which is ‘ethnically objectionable’, ‘harmful to child’, ‘insulting another nation’ or is ‘misleading in nature,’” the existing rules “did not direct platforms to remove such content without a complaint from any user.”

The new rules leaked by MeitY yesterday “sought to change this by mandating to remove such content irrespective of any complaint.”

This is worrying, the IFF explained, “because the grounds mentioned in Rule 3(1)(b) are themselves vague, impossible to implement consistently and prone to misuse, and social media platforms should not be made arbiters of whether a piece of content is permissible under this rule.”

India is currently in the middle of a media-driven “porn panic” centered around reporting on a case involving Bollywood celebrities who invested in an X-rated online startup.

Main Image: India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appointed him

Jun 3, 2022 3:47 PM PDT

LAS VEGAS — Jamie French returns to the “1900Hotdog” comedy podcast this week, hosted by Seanbaby and Robert Brockway.

For her episode, the trio discuss the failed 2000s reality show, “WB Superstar USA,” as well as French’s 15-year career in the adult industry.

“This is my third appearance on ‘1900Hotdog,’ hosted by personal heroes of mine, Seanbaby, and Robert Brockway,” enthused French. “As the editor of the ‘1900Hotdog’ podcast, I get a front-row seat to the hilarious back-and-forth between Sean and Robert, so when I actually get to pull up a mic and join the show, well, there are few things that bring me such joy. Take a listen; I just know you’ll love it.”

Find the program on Apple Podcasts, as well as most major podcast platforms, and on Twitter.

Follow Jamie French on Twitter and access her premium social media links here.

Jun 3, 2022 3:32 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES — Jupiter Jetson returns to Girlsway, opposite Hazel Moore, in “Help Me Understand” from imprint Mommy’s Girl.

Directed by James Avalon, the action opens as Jetson and Moore sit next to each other, attempting to make an online purchase; Jetson asks Moore about a book the younger lady left in her online cart the last time she was shopping.

That book, titled “How to Come Out as a Lesbian To Your Stepmother,” throws Jetson for a loop, but the ladies know the best way to understand something is to experience it.

“Hazel and James were amazing,” Jetson said. “It was really a fun day on set, and the script was hilarious. It’s definitely an amazing scene, and I hope the Girlsway members and my fans enjoy it.”

Find a trailer here and follow Girlsway on Twitter.

Follow Jupiter Jetson on Twitter and access her premium social media links here.

Jun 3, 2022 3:02 PM PDT

NEW YORK — Marcela Alonso welcomes comedian Mike Brown, a correspondent on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” to her IG live show this Sunday.

“I have decided to make ‘Sunday Funday’ all comedy every week to really bring the fun in, and with New York’s finest comedians, like Mike Brown, you know it’s going to be a party,” said Alonso. “I can’t wait to find out what makes these hilarious people tick.”

The show will stream live Sunday at 3 p.m. (PST) on Alonso’s Instagram.

Follow Marcela Alonso and Mike Brown on Twitter.

WASHINGTON — Arizona Republican congressman Paul Gosar made comments on social media Wednesday questioning longstanding jurisprudence protecting sexual expression as free speech under the First Amendment.

With the remarks, the Arizona member of the House of Representatives joined a chorus of mainstream conservative voices attempting, in the days since the Uvalde, Texas mass shooting, to blame “pornography” for the increased instances of gun violence in America.

Gosar, a dentist-turned-politician who became notorious early in his political life when his own family recorded ads urging people not to vote for him, took to Twitter this week in support of statements made by a fellow GOP politician, Ohio senatorial candidate J.D. Vance.

As XBIZ reported, Vance — a venture capitalist, Peter Thiel protegé and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” — told Catholic magazine Crisis last year that he was seeking an “outright ban” on all porn.

“J.D. Vance is right to call for restrictions on pornography,” Gosar tweeted Wednesday. “Liberal courts have declared porn to fall under ‘free speech.’ What a joke.”

Gosar added that “porn is simply too accessible, not to mention the rampant drug abuse and sex trafficking within this subversive, immoral industry.

“This, combined with the horrible effects it’s having on our young men and women, means that one who opposes any restrictions on porn is ignorant at best and malicious at worst. This should be common sense. But leftists refuse to budge an inch for the sake of sexual immorality,” he continued.

Gosar, whose alleged involvement with the January 6, 2021 insurrection reportedly came under scrutiny from lawmakers at the House select committee investigating the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, later tweeted, “I’m not a prude. But the flimsy ‘porn is protected free speech’ argument wasn’t true 50 years ago and it’s not true now. Porn does not empower women or men, it actually harms them and their brains. It’s simple gratuitous prurience.”

Today, Gosar retweeted a video statement by his colleague, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, asking Republicans to be “proud of Christian Nationalism.”

Rep. Taylor Greene argued that the Christian Nationalism movement, to which she belongs, will end school shootings, street crime and “sexual immorality.”

A Cacophony of Republican and Conservative Voices

Over the last week, mainstream Republican politicians and conservative pundits have been repeating baseless talking points asserting a connection between “pornography” and armed violence.

The only recently recorded link between pornography and a mass shooting — the Atlanta massacre of spa workers by a Christian terrorist on March 16, 2021 — actually underscored the connection between targeted violence and anti-porn rhetoric and dubious “conversion therapies” for supposed “porn addicts.”

Tom Basile, who bills himself as “the host of ‘America Right Now’ on Newsmax Television, an author and a former Bush administration official,” penned an op-ed last Friday for the Washington Times in which he minimizes the effect gun control and other policies may have in curbing repeated occurrences of mass violence.

“Faith and wisdom, not government and politics, will elevate the nation and strengthen the souls of those who otherwise might turn to drugs, pornography, self-mutilation and violence,” Basile wrote.

Another right-wing news source, the Epoch Times, published Saturday an op-ed by Wesley J. Smith, whom the paper describes as “host of the ‘Humanize Podcast,’ chairman of the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism and a consultant to the Patients Rights Council.”

In a poorly reasoned and factually sparse diatribe headlined “America’s Anti-Child Culture,” Smith links the Uvalde massacre to “abortion,” “transgender panic” and “ready access to obscene pornography on the internet, which reports say can distort the development of healthy sexuality.”

Both editorials surfaced around the time West Virginia’s governor, mainstream Republican Jim Justice, gave a rambling response to a local clergyman’s call for gun control reform, stating, “We absolutely know without any question, to me, at least, that why in the world is an 18-year-old buying an assault weapon? A 21-year-old, I’d welcome it. But really and truly, we know all of the stuff that’s going on on social media, all across the land. We know the profanity. We know all the different stuff, all the porn, all the bad stuff that is out there that is getting in the minds of our children. We know all the violent video games getting in the mind of our children. Why don’t we do something about it?”

Jun 3, 2022 2:32 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES — Kimora Quin’s latest marks her debut for AmateurAllure in which she performs with Codey Steele.

“It doesn’t take long for Kimora to warm up for the camera, as she’s soon on her knees deep-throating her partner, Codey. As the scene progresses, Kimora gets pounded in doggy, cowgirl, missionary and more,” a rep said.

Quin praised her experience with the studio.

“I want to thank AmateurAllure for having me on set,” she said. “I had a great time working with Codey and the entire crew, and I loved giving them a taste of all I have to offer.”

A trailer for the scene can be found at AmateurAllure.com and follow the studio on Twitter.

Kimora Quin is represented by East Coast Talents; follow her on Twitter and find her premium social media links here.

LOS ANGELES — PeterFever has premiered its new 10-episode original series “Postcards From Brazil,” shot on location in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil.

“Leading the cast is Thai-American muscleboy sensation Travis Yukarin, paired with our new discovery, hot and hung Japanese-Brazilian stud Hanry Onlyjapa,” a rep said. “The storyline takes the couple back to Hanry’s homeland to connect with old crushes and hook-up with the hottest males the equatorial wonderland has to offer.”

Miguel Baiano, Vitor Guedes, Christian Hupper, Eduardo Menzorra, Davi Paixao, Daniel Toro, Marcello Wiliam and Rafael Zorzella round out the cast.

Director Guy Criss was happy to tackle the challenge of shooting on location with a large, multicultural cast.

“We faced and conquered the language barrier with many of the Brazilian models who spoke no English, thanks to Hanry, and our social media director Alex Lecomte, who makes Rio his home and was our intermediary with the local models,” said Criss. “And besides, male sex is a universal language we’re all pretty fluent in.”

Danny Zeeman, CEO of PeterFever and affiliate network Zbuckz, came up with the idea of two Asian tourists in tropical Brazil, and wrote the series scripts.

“It was a thrilling adventure traveling to one of the most beautiful countries in the world to shoot some of the most beautiful men in the world,” he said. “Pairing the muscular, well-built and well-endowed men of Brazil with Thai superstar Travis has already been a huge hit with our members.”

“It’s the Gay Pride Month porn you don’t want to miss,” he added.

Episodes will premiere weekly through July 12. Visit PeterFever online and on Twitter for additional details.

LOS ANGELES — Vina Sky and Kimmy Kim star in “Today’s Special,” a new fantasy set in the world of food service from VR Bangers.

The scenario places the viewer in the role of a patron at a high-end restaurant with Sky as the chef and Kimm as a waitress. After finding out that their food is inedible, the two will do whatever it takes for the restaurant to earn a good review.

“Fancy restaurants are perhaps not in the typical VR Bangers style, but we liked the idea behind that Michelin critic fantasy so much, that we had to produce a scene like that,” said producer Ivan Harbakon. “I am sure that our viewers and members of the VR Bangers’ family are going to have a blast with both Vina and Kimmy as soon as they wear their VR goggles.”

A trailer and additional details for the VR fantasy can be found here and follow VR Bangers, Kimmy Kim and Vina Sky on Twitter.

MADRID — Spanish sex workers and adult industry figures are sounding the alarm about a new law, supported by politicians from the ruling PSOE (Socialist) and opposition parties, aiming to outlaw all forms of paid sex work, including commercial pornography.

Last week, PSOE introduced a proposal for an “abolitionist law against sexual exploitation,” as they had anticipated on their platform.

But the new draft included a new section, 187, which explicitly outlaws audiovisual productions, magazines or internet content deemed “pornographic,” the El Español newspaper reported yesterday.

Prominent Socialist politicians within PSOE, which seized power in 2019 after several years of conservative rule under the Partido Popular (PP), have taken up the abolition of sex work as their personal cause. These include the party’s General Vice-Secretary Adriana Lastra, who last month took to the press to promote a change in the Spanish Penal Code to mandate up to three years of jail time for anyone paying for sex.

Lastra framed the effort as an attempt to reach out to the right, saying, “We introduced the proposal and we hope that the [conservative] PP will vote for it, and, above all, [left-wing minority alliance] Unidas Podemos.” 

PSOE seeks to revive the crimes of “proxenetism” (pimping or pandering) and “tercería locativa” (brothel keeping), which were removed from the Penal Code in 1995 by a previous Socialist administration.

The language used by the PSOE exclusively uses the Spanish feminine “prostituta,” which is both stigmatizing and criminalizing, and also essentializes sex work as a female occupation.

The law also conflates legal minors with the much vaguer “persons in situation of vulnerability,” which could be deployed by authorities to apply to whomever they wish.

A Left-Right Alliance to Re-Criminalize Consensual Sex Work

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has actively campaigned for “the abolition of prostitution,” including during the last PSOE convention in Valencia last October.

Last month, PSOE attempted to sneak the new criminalization into a popular “Sólo Sí Es Sí” (Only Yes Means Yes) sexual consent law.

An amendment was slapped onto that much less controversial law, a last-minute addition which outlawed sex work was requested by the conservative PP and Sánchez negotiated to add it behind the backs of the minority parties that are part of his legislative alliance.

But those parties — Unidas Podemos, ERC, Bildu — threatened to “vote against the entire ‘Sólo Sí Es Sí’ law if it included the PP-driven anti-sex work amendment,” government sources leaked to the press.

PSOE decided to remove the amendment and reintroduce the abolitionist reform on its own. The ruling party also has shown a strange desire to rush the process “as soon as possible,” government sources confirmed to El Español.

Lastra told the press that Spain “must be a dignified country” and cannot continue “turning a blind eye to this grave violation of human rights.”

According to the PSOE, any opposition to their extreme Nordic Model reform means to be on the side of the “exploitation of women” and against “human rights.”

Noted Industry Voices Erika Lust, Paulita Pappel Speak Out Against the Law

Noted Swedish-Spanish adult filmmaker, producer and studio owner Erika Lust took to Twitter today to sound the alarm about the impeding government attempt to ban all sex work, including adult performance.

“This International Sex Workers Day, I want to take the opportunity to express my unconditional support to all sex performers currently based in Spain, where the government is once again threatening their safety with prohibitionist bills that claim to ‘protect their rights,’” Lust tweeted.

“The proposed [Penal Code reform] by PSOE, as it is right now, calls for the abolition of all forms of making a profit from the prostitution of others, including porn production,” Lust added. “According to the political parties behind this bill, it would not matter whether the practice is carried out under exploitation — banned under current law — or if it is independent labor, with consent from all parties involved, following ethical production standards.

“What is presented as an effort to stop exploitation and violence in defense of human rights, in particular women’s rights, ends up being the main source of violence, precariousness and lack of protection for all sex workers — who are already vulnerable as it is,” the Barcelona-based feminist filmmaker continued.

Lust added that “if the government really cares about women’s rights, they should ask how women are treated in the porn industry? Are these women entirely in charge of their own careers? How can we guarantee the basic labor rights of sex workers?”

She quoted fellow pornographer and FSC Europe activist, Spanish-born Paulita Pappel, in noting that “sex work is only safe when it is decriminalized, and pornography is artistic expression and thus a right under freedom of speech.”

By condemning the porn industry “without taking all of these aspects into account, this bill only reinforces the stigma on sex workers and confuses sex work with sex trafficking,” Lust concluded.

Pappel herself issued an impassioned video through her social media explaining the background of the government’s attack on consensual sex work and urging support for the voices of actual sex workers and adult industry stakeholders.

Main Image: Spain’s self-described ‘prostitution abolitionist’ Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez

Jun 2, 2022 3:45 PM PDT

LAS VEGAS — Podcaster and content creator Adam22 is the featured guest on a recent episode of “The Iced Coffee Hour,” hosted by Graham Stephan and Jack Selby.

The interview begins with Adam22 discussing how his interests in rap and BMX inspired him to create web content. Living in Los Angeles, and having years of experiences interviewing mainstream celebrities, he began to interview porn stars for his NoJumper YouTube channel.

Adam22 and his girlfriend, performer Lena the Plug, were initially approached about an interview series in which they talked to porn stars who were topless; however, he felt each interview should end with the porn star guest having sex, a hybrid YouTube/OnlyFans series that became “Plug Talk,” which he intends to build into a larger franchise.

“I have so many ideas for the holes in the adult marketplace that I think we could fill in terms of additional content,” he noted. “I’m just really excited to turn it into this vibrant porn media company because I feel like porn is so much more mainstream now.”

While Adam22 continues to perform with Lena, he shared that he finds it interesting to learn from the creators he interviews about how they approach sex work.

The full 90-minute interview can be found on YouTube; follow Graham Stephan on Twitter.

Follow Adam22 on Twitter and find his premium social media links here.