The Hottest Topic At This Year's Pornhub Awards? Censorship
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 572 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pornhub is currently not available in more than a third of US States, due to new age verification laws. And just last week, two Republican senators introduced a bill which could ban pornography across the country. The looming threat on the industry was not lost on some of the biggest names in the adult film industry at this year’s Pornhub Awards. In fact, it was central to the event’s theme. WIRED’s Manisha Krishnan was there, and on this week’s episode tells us all about the event, and how Pornhub’s story is at the center of tech and politics today.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- Your Favorite Porn Stars Are Sick of Being Censored. But They’re Not Going Away
- The Biggest Dating App Faux Pas for Gen Z? Being Cringe
- North Korea Stole Your Job
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Lauren. Before we start, I wanted to just take a second to remind you that we want to hear from you. |
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| 0:29.0 | We really do appreciate the feedback and it helps other people find the show. |
| 0:36.1 | Welcome to Wired's Uncanny Valley. I'm Wired's senior correspondent Lauren Good filling in today for Zoe Schiffer. |
| 0:43.9 | Today on the show, we're going to an unexpected place that can actually tell us a lot about the relationship between tech and politics today. |
| 0:53.0 | And that place is the 7th annual Pornhub Awards Gala. |
| 0:58.0 | We're gonna talk about how adult performers |
| 1:00.2 | are dealing with the threat of censorship |
| 1:03.1 | and how Pornhub in particular has become a case study |
| 1:06.7 | of how far anti-porn legislation could go. |
| 1:10.3 | The most recent move happened just last week, |
| 1:12.5 | when a bill aiming to ban all porn in the United States |
| 1:15.7 | was reintroduced by two Republican senators. |
| 1:19.1 | I'm joined this week by Wired Senior Culture Editor Manisha Krishnan. |
| 1:23.3 | Manisha, welcome to the show. |
| 1:24.8 | Thanks for having me on, Lauren. |
| 1:30.8 | So you spent the day and the evening with some of the top Pornhub performers at this awards |
| 1:36.3 | gala. |
| 1:37.1 | Can you set the scene of the event for listeners and tell us a little bit about the folks you |
... |
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