MONTREAL — A sultry Gianna Dior leads the starry cast of “Family Cheaters” for fauxcest imprint Family Sinners and writer-director Ricky Greenwood.

Filling out the cast of “four taboo tales of lust,” noted a rep, are Vanna Bardot, Aila Donovan and Rocky Emerson with Steve Holmes, Derrick Pierce, Tommy Pistol and newly crowned XBIZ “Performer of the Year” Dante Colle.

“Superstar Gianna brings her beauty and charm into a high-energy performance that will leave fans breathless,” said Jon Blitt, VP of Family Sinners parent company Mile High Media. “Ricky captures four outstanding scenes of forbidden passion from the young cast of performers reveling in this wild fantasy.”

The action first pairs Donovan and Pierce, then Dior and Holmes. Emerson enjoys a passionate tryst with Colle and Bardot takes on Pistol.

Click here for box art and additional details and follow the label on Twitter. Direct wholesale inquiries to wilma@mile-high-media.com or call (800) 363-0133.

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Germany’s most vocal proponent of state censorship, an obscure local bureaucrat named Tobias Schmid who serves as the head of the State Media Authority (LMA) of North Rhine-Westphalia, has announced this week he has started investigating popular premium fan site OnlyFans.

“During the Corona [COVID-19] crisis, the OnlyFans platform has gained enormous popularity,” the news site for the NTV TV service reported Sunday. “According to the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, the site is also attracting more and more providers of erotic content and the Authority is therefore calling for stricter regulation.”

“We are registering that OnlyFans, for example, are increasingly attracting erotic providers and influencers, and we will take care of it,” Schmid ominously warned the German public during an interview with the influential Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

A local bureaucrat aligned with the establishment’s center-right Christian Democrat party, Schmid has gained national and international stature since 2019 by appointing himself the Central European nation’s chief proponent of state censorship on sexual content.

Schmid’s rhetoric, like that of fellow War on Porn crusaders worldwide, claims his campaigns have as a purpose to “protect the children,” although with the German twist that he is proudly an obsessive of “Ordnung” (order).

“Ordnungspolitik ist sein Fetisch” — “Order Policy [or Regulation Policy] is his fetish,” according to a profile of Schmid published in 2016.

A Would-Be Censor’s ‘Intense Reminders’

Schmid is the head of the State Media Authority (LMA) of North Rhine-Westphalia, an agency that is part of the federal state government of that German region and is of equal rank as the ministries or a superior state authority.

As XBIZ reported, in April 2020 Schmid loudly demanded “web locks” be placed on Pornhub. Schmid was particularly bothered by “gang bang” [sic] content, and how it was normalized on Pornhub among other sexual practices.

“If children get the impression that ‘gang bang’ is a normal sexual practice in which the woman is used and humiliated, it is certainly an extreme problem,” declared Schmid, who obsessed in his statements about policing “normal” versus “not normal” sexuality.

This past weekend, Schmid jumped on the current rising wave of anti-porn sentiment spreading from the NCOSE and Exodus Cry-led attack on Pornhub in the U.S. and Canada, to murky press campaign against the enormously popular — and headline-magnet — OnlyFans.

Schmid told Welt am Sonntag that the “core of our legal situation for these services [like OnlyFans is] the same as for the porn platforms. That means: no customers under the age of 18.”

Schmid sternly warned content makers that he is watching their activities.

His authority, he told the newspaper, will “intensely remind the ladies and gentlemen who sell pornographic services on their accounts that they are obliged to use a permissible system for the protection of minors.”

In October 2020, an extensive Vice magazine report on rising anti-porn attitudes in Germany focused on Schmid. The Vice piece characterized him as “relentless” and points out that some members of the German press are critical of his zeal.

A Curiously Timed Article

Schmid’s warning coincides with rumors in both the adult industry and among War on Porn crusaders that, although Pornhub is the current flashpoint for the ongoing and largely religiously motivated attacks, “OnlyFans is next.”

At the end of February, several models and sex worker advocates began sharing the news that an article would be published imminently targeting OnlyFans with a number of allegations.

The article finally materialized on February 3, but it was not through a prominent news organization or from an experienced journalist. Instead, the piece appeared on a news blog called Forensic News, founded in 2019 by a young man from Orange County named Scott Stedman, who had graduated from college a year earlier.

Stedman’s mission statement vaguely describes Forensic News as “a concept and experiment.”

“At its core,” Stedman wrote, “we aim to deliver original long-form investigative journalism that actually matters. Though focused on national security/political/legal matters, we will never turn a blind eye to reporting that could make an impact. Every investigative report that we produce will include hard evidence. Evidence that one could hold in their hands. Bank records, notes, documents, flight logs, corporate filings, pictures.”

Although Stedman also claims the purpose of his publication is to “speak truth to power,” his background is in communication work for law enforcement and “dossier journalism” (as in stories deliberately leaked in the context of financial disputes).

According to his LinkedIn page, Stedman collaborated for almost three years (2012-2015) with the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, where he says his duties included “conducting social media and terrorism research and analysis” and “contributing to the Open Source Intelligence Team during events.” At the time, Stedman was attending high school and college.

After graduating from college, Stedman managed to land a book deal with Skyhorse Publishing and he produced a tome entitled “Real News: An Investigative Reporter Uncovers the Foundations of the Trump-Russia Conspiracy.”

Skyhorse has also published books by Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., both of whom endorse the publisher on its webpage.

Stedman wrote two articles about OnlyFans and those he identifies as its owners: one published in August 2020 and the aforementioned piece on March 3.

Both articles make allegations and implications with sensational headlines, followed by “document dumps” typical of dossier journalism, couched in strategically placed disclaimers disavowing those allegations and implications.

The final lines of the March 3 article reveal that “there have been no charges filed” and that “the allegations within the banking documents are not conclusive evidence of any criminal wrongdoing,” which beg, then, the questions of why the Forensic News pieces targeting OnlyFans are being published, and why, precisely, they are being published now.

Main Image: Tobias Schmid, head of the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (Photo: official portrait)

LOS ANGELES — JustFor.fans (JFF) today announced the unveiling of its personalized “Recommendations” page, which suggests new models to members to expand their user experience.

The all-new feature uses AI to detect performers the JFF member already follows and suggests other content creators they might like based on who else subscribes to them, among other factors.

Founder and CEO Dominic Ford explained that the company “focuses a lot on providing internal traffic to our models. Unlike other sites, in which models are responsible for bringing all of their own traffic, our models routinely attribute 30-40% of their sales to our internal traffic.”

“We expect that percentage to go up with the launch of this new feature, which is one more way we introduce users to models they might not know about yet,” said Ford.

The Recommendations system takes many factors into account to assist JFF members, such as how long ago they subscribed to a particular model, and how often that model updates their content.

The list of suggestions returned are models that have been active within the last two weeks on JFF, and exclusive models are shown first.

Before his work in the adult industry, Ford was a software engineer at an AI think-tank in Cambridge, MA. He later went on to lead development teams for personalization software — building and using systems like the one JFF is using — for major retail websites.

“AI software development is my background, so it was only a matter of time until I integrated a system similar to the ones I used to build for the Department of Defense and major retail websites into JFF,” Ford added. “The results have been stunning. The page is already responsible for a large percentage of new sales per day.”

To learn more about the new Recommendations feature, visit JustFor.fans.

For more information, follow JFF on Twitter.

Mar 16, 2021 1:37 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES — Self-styled “adorable Domme” Miss Mae Ling has penned a new essay for her blog titled “Why Femdom is a Religion and Not Just a Fetish” that explores the similarities between femdom and organized religion.

“Femdom is all-encompassing in every aspect of life. In a patriarchal world, one may atone for their societal upbringings by worshipping a Goddess and serving women,” she noted. “To believe in something is to live by its guidelines and rules every day and not just doing so for an hour every week when one feels the urge or calling from one’s tented pants.”

The piece is broken down into subsections that include “Femdom Church” and “Femdom Sins,” “Daily Femdom Worship” and “Femdom Mantras and Scriptures,” “Femdom Tithe” and “Femdom Servitude.”

Visit MissMaeLing.com for the full essay and follow her on Twitter.

In related news, Miss Mae Ling and Play Materials recently offered a new Dino Dick in “Sex Worker Red,” the latest version of her novelty toy that went viral in December, 2020.

MONTREAL — Nutaku has launched the adults-only title “Lust Academy Deluxe” by PeachBeach Studio. The free-to-play game is currently only available on Android and “promises thrilling action while also satiating players’ sexual fantasies.”

“You take the role of instructor at the famous Magus Academy with smoking-hot sorceresses as your students,” a rep explained. “Beat the naughty witches in exciting boss fights, train them to unveil their magical lovemaking abilities and make them forever yours in this hentai-filled fantasy world.”

A PeachBeach rep explained the origin of the new game.

“Our main game inspiration was the classic arcade shooting game ‘Thunder Strike,’ one of the top-selling game in China and Southeast Asia between 2012-2016,” said the rep. “By taking the best of popular shoot-em-up and tactical squad simulation gameplay, we created ‘Lust Academy Deluxe’ by adding some cool fun elements so players can enjoy the best of hentai action.”

Features include over 20 “sexy witch students and teachers” and more than 40 “high-quality erotic scenes,” noted the Nutaku rep, as well as STG or shoot-em-up game mechanics and “exciting ‘Boss’ fights.”

Click here for additional details and follow Nutaku on Twitter.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The April 2021 issue of Hustler Magazine is available today on newsstands and online. Hungarian model Blue Angel is this month’s “Cover Honey” and she is featured in a 12-page centerfold spread.

The April issue also features pictorials of reigning XBIZ “Female Performer of the Year” Emily Willis, Lulu Chu, Blair Williams, Keisha Grey and others.

Other features include Joanna Angel and Stoya interviewing each other and starring in a pictorial; J.C. Chesler profiling the Sullen Art Collective; and a column by sexpert Dr. Emily Morse.

In one of his last Publisher’s Statements before passing, Larry Flynt reflected on how no politician is perfect and all have skeletons in their closets. “Politics is the art of compromise, which means all effective politicians are compromised to an extent,” the publisher wrote.

While Biden wasn’t Flynt’s favored Democratic candidate, Flynt noted the new president was off to “one hell of a start, and with the House and Senate behind him, we can expect greater things to come.”

For more information, visit Hustler online and on Twitter.

We all know the complaint, “I can’t compete with Amazon!” Of course, you can’t. You’re not Amazon and you’re not trying to be. You have displays, testers and educated staff to help the customer buy the right product for them, not the trial-and-error method of Amazon.

Below you’ll find tips to identify products and sellers on Amazon in order to validate your pricing and assure the customer.

Knowing how to read Amazon, beyond the price, is key to communicating to in-store shoppers.

We’ve all seen it. A customer approaches you with a cellphone and you see the Amazon logo and know what’s coming. They want the item for the same price or they want a discount because the item is less expensive elsewhere.

Rather than getting mad immediatel, you really should take a close  look at the item the customer is viewing: the seller, the shipper, the description and the price.

Identify the Parties.

Who is the seller and who is the shipper?

For example, there are independent sellers that use Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). How can you tell? It is shipping from Amazon, but Amazon is not the seller. You can find out more info, including the seller’s business name and address, by clicking on the seller name.

Products can also be sold and shipped by Amazon, which means that Amazon bought the items from the manufacturer and is selling their inventory. These items are likely legitimate and their lower price may be possible. Don’t take it for granted though; look at the brands, too.

Now that you know who is selling and shipping, what about the products?

Is the product displayed really the same item that you’re selling? Here are some clues:

What is the brand shown? Is it Cloud 9 Novelties, Doc Johnson, Evolved Novelties? Those are valid brand names. What if it’s Cloud Nine, Dr Johnson, The Evolved? Those are not valid brand names and the item being sold is suspect.

What are the images? Are they showing the known packaging with a product that doesn’t match the description? Does the seller-provided description match the description you know? Any of these things give you an idea if the product is legitimate or not.

Know your manufacturers. Many prohibit third-party sellers. If you see an item you know is restricted, then it is a bad seller or fraudulent product.

What about the price?

What is the MSRP on the item? Is the Amazon price shown impossibly below that? Manufacturers often set a Minimum Advertised Price policy equal to MSRP. This is to aid retail stores from being undercut by online sellers.

There are several combinations of sellers, brands, text descriptions and other details that let you prove to the customer that the listing is a fake or the seller is “fly-by-night.” Here are some elements to watch out for: 

1.    Symbols mixed with text. This slows the Amazon bots down from finding and deleting them.

2.    Text that looks like nothing but search terms such as brand names that aren’t related to the item.

3.    Brand names that are incorrect, but the images match the real products.

4.    Brand names that are correct, but the image is not the real item.

5.    Sellers with a name and address that make no sense. They might have no real name, just letters strung together. The location is an offshore address.

6.    The seller just started business.

7.    The seller has no ratings or has poor ratings.

What can you do?

Let your customer know that the Amazon seller is not selling the same/actual product you carry. If you want to help the cause, report the listing to the manufacturer’s brand ambassador, your salesperson, or your distributor. Be sure to provide all of the detailed information — ASIN, item or seller. A link is helpful, too. When you can take the time to alert the brand owner, you help everyone.

If you are shown an item priced at MAP by a long-time seller with good ratings, it is likely a valid product and good seller, but you have an advantage: “The Amazon item is priced without me, my experience and my beautiful store. I’m here to help you make the best selection, make sure the product is working correctly, and I’ll be here after the sale. You can also take this baby home right now.”

Here are some more ways to encourage customers to shop in your store:

1.    “While this product is probably the real deal, you need to be careful with Amazon and pleasure products. There are many problematic and fraudulent sellers.”

2.    “If the price seems too good to be true, you may want to think twice about ordering it..”

3.    Unless the customer is using Prime, they might be paying for shipping. Shipping coupled with the price of the product isn’t far off from the in-store price. “At Amazon you’re paying for the product and the shipping. At my store, you don’t have to pay additional shipping.” 

4.    “They are shipping you a product from XYZ country. It may arrive in a few days or maybe six weeks.” 

5.    “Check the seller refund policy. You might find you have no recourse if it’s defective, never shows up, or you get a different product. You can complain, but that doesn’t mean you’ll receive  a full refund.”

Amazon sellers really don’t only sell bad items, and there are many legitimate sellers just like you who are trying to make a profit. They have their challenges to maintain Amazon seller standards and are victims of bad sellers, too.

Amazon customers can always file a complaint if the product isn’t what they ordered, or is broken or defective. Too many complaints will get the seller shut down. However, that doesn’t help the customer right now. You are the one that helps the customer right now.

Customers will show you good sellers with lower prices. That’s true of any business. How would you handle a customer that said, “The store down the street has this for $5 less?” You might say, “Yes, they do. We have differences, we aren’t a franchise of the store down the street, and we are not a catalog.” Or “They do. I can match their price today if you show me the item and price.” 

Be a trusted advisor. You aren’t trying to compete with Amazon. No one can compete with Amazon on price alone. You have an entirely different, customer-focused business. They are volume; you are about the lifetime value of your customers.

Customers use you as a showroom then buy from Amazon? No one can stop them, but you can discourage it. Be your most helpful self. You’re educating, recommending and upselling. You are not using an algorithm that may or may not show related products that people bought together. Plus, they get to take the item home today, not in three to five business days.

There are many strategies used by retail stores to maintain and increase customer engagement.

Store “dollars” have been popular because they work. For every $XX.xx the customer spends, they get $X.xx in Store Dollars.

Hosting events is another strategy. Try hosting funny or educational events like a beginner BDSM class, or a comedy night or fashion show.

As we all live in an Amazon world, whether it’s AWS Servers, Amazon Pay, Amazon sellers, and on and on. It is not possible to be all things to all consumers from your store. It is possible to market your differences! 

Ann Houlihan is the CEO of CNV.com, a provider of B2B and B2C ecommerce solutions.

LOS ANGELES — “Revenge Porn” — the heinous instance of harassment when someone distributes intimate photos or videos of a former romantic partner without their consent — is a topic that elicits universally negative reactions.

In a society increasingly polarized by political and social issues, we all seem to be in agreement that people who engage in this type of intrusive shaming should be stopped and punished.

And so several state legislatures in the U.S. have decided to tackle the issue by debating and passing a number of “revenge porn” laws, attempting to define the items in question and the manner of distribution in a number of slightly different ways.

Earlier this month, the Georgia Senate passed SB 78, an act drafted as a comprehensive overhaul of the way the state criminal justice system handles instances of “revenge porn.”

But the language of the new bill, currently being debated by the state’s House of Representatives, is a good example of why it is so tricky to attempt to legislate the production and distribution of sex content, even while attempting to outlaw a seemingly clear-cut, widely condemned practice such as “revenge porn.”

The problem is that legal, consensual pornography is such a controversial subject among mainstream politicians that there is little clear language on how to legislate the distinction between lawful sex content production and distribution, and their illegal counterparts.

Porn’s Carefully Negotiated Balance

Leaving aside the crucial issue that legal pornography exists in a carefully negotiated balance between free speech and definitions of “obscenity” and “pruriency,” whenever legislators — at the of federal or state levels — decide to carve out definitions of illegal sex content, they end up drafting language that could end up accidentally outlawing consensual content and, worse, leading to the prosecution of legitimate adult producers and models.

This is particularly true in the current era of constant content creation for online platforms and premium sites like OnlyFans, and of informal shoots that are then monetized, be it “content trades” or through the use of a romantic partner as a costar or co-producer.

Laws like the proposed Georgia statute could potentially generate issues for lawful porn producers, not because it was drafted with that intention, but because its language could open the door to criminalizing conflicts between estranged co-producers.

The uncertain wording of “revenge porn” laws like Georgia’s (most states have or are working on versions of it) should specifically serve as a wake-up call for models who have grown complacent about generating “paperwork” (including model releases, 2257s and distribution agreements) with informal partners.

The Language of Georgia’s ‘Revenge Porn’ Law

Take, for example, the definitions of the Georgia law, which has four sections:

The law penalizes a person who “knowing the content of a transmission or post, knowingly and without the consent of the depicted person: electronically transmits or posts, in one or more transmissions or posts, a photograph or video which depicts nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult, including a falsely created videographic or still image, when the transmission or post is harassment or causes financial loss to the depicted person and serves no legitimate purpose to the depicted person”

(Incidentally, the draft also turns SB 78 into one of the first instances of “deepfake law,” which it calls “a falsely created videographic or still image.” That wording, however, could also criminalize collages, memes or other lawful artworks, and it may still be sometime before legislators can come up with at definition of deepfake that would stand to close scrutiny.)

The language of the first two of the four parts of the law is already problematic, making the definition of criminal transmission either being “harassment” or “causing financial loss” and “serving no legitimate purpose” to the depicted person.

A Nightmare Scenario for a Content-Producing Model

Imagine this scenario: “A” is an OnlyFans model who consensually makes a sex video with her boyfriend “B” and posts it to the premium site. Some time later, A and B have a messy breakup, and B moves out and takes a job at a law firm. Time passes and someone at the firm finds the video and fires B.

According to a reading of the Georgia law, B could then go to the police and accuse A of “revenge porn,” because it caused him financial loss.

If A had her paperwork in order, she could prove that B gave his consent to appear in the video, and that he was also aware of how it would be distributed. However, if A did not have documentation, she could now face criminal liability and be forced to prove it through costly legal proceedings.

Sections Three and Four broadly define the places where the illegal distribution may take place as “a website, peer-to-peer file-sharing site, thumbnail  gallery, movie gallery post, linked list, live webcam, web page, or message board which advertises or promotes its service as showing, previewing, or distributing sexually explicit conduct.”

This is also interesting from a legal standpoint because the last part of the definition seems to offer a definition of “pornographic website” that seems novel and might run into a serious constitutional challenge, but not before someone actually gets charged.

An Industry Lawyer’s Perspective

XBIZ spoke to industry attorney Corey Silverstein, from Silverstein Legal, who marveled at the thoroughness of the Georgia bill.

“They really thought this out,” Silverstein said. “I have to say this is one the most all-encompassing of this kind of bill that I have seen yet.”

Silverstein also noted that the ambiguous language could potentially result in some messy prosecutions of people who “don’t do their homework” by having their paperwork in order.

“I’ve been saying for years,” the lawyer explained, “you have to prepare for the future for when something goes wrong. You have to get at the very least model releases for every piece of content you shoot and distribute — it’s not really an option not to.”

“This is true, I would say, especially if you shoot with your boyfriend or girlfriend,” he added. “This law would make whatever they define as ‘revenge porn’ into a one-to-10 year felony, a fine of $200,000, or both. People have to think about this. I see, all the time, disagreements about content between people who are in relationships today and then break up tomorrow.”

‘You Don’t Want to Be That Person’

Silverstein also encourages content producers to “take raw footage of the consent that you save and you don’t distribute it. Have all the models clearly state that they are doing this of their own free will, and also that they are aware that you will putting it online to make money.”

“This is not just [advice] for the big studios. If you’re a pornographer — and if you make content, you are — it’s a huge difference from people who are not, who don’t make sex commercial sex content.”

These statutes, Silverstein concluded, even if well-intentioned, “are going to be leaving holes all over the place.”

“Then someone will get charged and they’re gonna be put in the position of having to prove consent. There are constitutional challenges that would be argued, of course, but in order to do that first someone has to get charged.”

“And you don’t want to be that person.”

Georgia Revenge Porn Law

SEATTLE — FeetFinder.com has launched a new subscription service as well as other features to enhance the experience of both buyers and sellers.

One of these new features allows buyers to subscribe to their favorite sellers to view all their content for a flat monthly fee set by the seller. Additionally, sellers are now able to decide if buyers need to be subscribers to message them and request a custom.

Other new features include faster and easier content uploads for models, a detailed description page that will allow sellers to link to their social media and customize their profiles, a merch store and increased image album uploads for “Premium” and “Featured Models.”

“We always want the best experience for buyers and sellers on our site. To improve their experience, most of the profits we make are put back into the site for new features and improve what we currently offer. We’re excited about the current rollout out, but even more excited about what we have planned to release over the next few weeks and months,” said FeetFinder owner Patrick.

To further explain these changes, FeetFinder has posted a new tutorial to their YouTube channel called “How to Buy and Sell Feet Content Online.”

To apply to be a Featured Model, email hello@feetfinder.com or DM the studio via Twitter.

To sign up, visit FeetFinder.com.

Follow FeetFinder on Twitter for updates.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — “Model Madness,” described as “the ultimate tip war for cam models,” is ongoing and today marks the beginning of the third-round halfway point of the bracket-style event that has generated “record success” for those involved.

Co-hosts Brielle Day and Emily Bloom kicked off ‘Model Madness’ on March 1 with 64 models competing and have benefited from MyFreeCams (MFC) members being “extremely supportive tippers,” noted a rep.

“I’m extremely pleased with the success of ‘Model Madness,’ and we’re only halfway through the competition,” said Day. “Everything we set out to do is happening — the models are networking and making new friends, having extremely successful shows and they’re learning how to monetize and market themselves more effectively.”

“Emily has been a huge help assisting me and making the event a huge success,” Day added.

The rep also credited Charlesbot developer TheProgrammer for their able assistance.

“He created MFC’s only bot that helps count tokens, tracks tip wars, runs countdowns and timers, posts ads in the chatroom, and more,” the rep said. “For this competition, he created an update to the bot giving tip wars a built-in timer function. Models can now focus on the competition because they can auto-set a time to end each tip war and not have to end it and keep track of time manually.”

More information about “Model Madness: The Ultimate Tip War Tournament” can be found here. 

Follow Brielle Day and Emily Bloom on Twitter for updates.