https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/invs-porn-age-verification-laws-supreme-court/index.html
More than a dozen states have passed new laws that led to restrictions
on pornography.
[...]
The explosion of new laws in recent years has been pushed by groups
associated with Project 2025, a controversial conservative policy
blueprint written in anticipation of Trump’s second term. Project 2025’s
more than 900-page policy memo declares that “pornography should be
outlawed,” argues that “the people who produce and distribute it should
be imprisoned” and says companies that “facilitate its spread should be
shuttered.”
In a hidden-camera video released last year by a British journalism
nonprofit, one of the document’s co-authors, former Trump administration
official Russell Vought, discussed the legislative strategy for banning
pornography.
Vought, who is set to return to government in Trump’s second term, says
in the video that “we’d have a national ban on pornography if we could.”
But instead of such a drastic action, which would likely be unpopular
and unconstitutional, he suggested using laws aimed at restricting porn
for minors as a way to target the adult industry.
“We’ve got a number of states that are passing this and, you know, what
happens is the porn company then says, ‘we’re not going to do business
in your state,’ which of course is entirely what we were after, right?”
Vought said. “We’re doing it from the back door, starting with the
kids.” A spokesperson for Vought did not respond to a request for
comment this week.
