Free Speech Coalition 2022 Annual Report

For over 30 years, Free Speech Coalition has been the first — and sometimes only — line of defense for the adult industry. In 2022, I was honored to take the reins of this vitally important organization at a time when the forces of repression and censorship are the most aggressive than I’ve ever seen.

It should come as no surprise then that the FSC team was incredibly busy last year. We did advocacy work including tracking bills, filing amicus briefs in court, and lobbying politicians. We endeavored to educate our industry through blog posts, newsletters, webinars, and trade show panels. We spoke on the industry’s behalf in hundreds of articles this year, addressing issues including obscenity, content moderation, social media censorship, banking discrimination, sex trafficking, crypto and porn filters in outlets including The New Yorker, CNBC, Rolling Stone, Axios, Vice, Daily Beast and Yahoo News.

I am extremely proud of what the Free Speech Coalition staff and board accomplished in 2022, none of which would be possible without our members and financial supporters. Your membership dues, donations, and sponsorships are what enables our tiny (but mighty!) team to make it happen. I am sincerely grateful to every single one of you who invested in our industry’s future by investing in FSC.

While our industry faces an escalating assault on multiple fronts in the coming year, I’m confident that with your support, we can not only defend our livelihoods from attack, but achieve meaningful improvements for everyone in the adult industry.

Alison Boden
Executive Director
Free Speech Coalition

• Effectively mobilized against legislative threats
  In January, we successfully stopped on California’s SB435, a badly written revenge law that would have threatened adult businesses across the web. Later, with the help of our lobbyists and allies, we helped derail the EARN IT Act in the US Senate by raising significant free speech issues — all the time rallying and educating our community.

• Launched Action Center to track new threats
  Our new system notifies us when new bills that could affect our industry are introduced, track their progress, and send out action alerts to mobilize the industry to fight back against legislation that would harm us and support policies that serve our interests.

• Banking Discrimination Briefing in Washington D.C.
  Our December trip to Capitol Hill was a huge success in getting the issue of banking and financial services discrimination in front of lawmakers and enlisting our representatives to level the playing field for our industry and its workers.

• Drafted updated 2257 regulations
  After our victory in the courts against the unconstitutional provisions of the regulation, we set out to rewrite the language to remove those parts and clarify exactly what producers and platforms need to do to comply. These streamlined and simplified rules are ready to be delivered the Department of Justice in early 2023.

Fighting discrimination against our industry

Our most important priority is the fight for fair treatment for all adult businesses and workers in banking, the media, and in legislatures. That not only means continuing to educate policymakers, but also other industries and service providers to benefit our businesses by showing our commitment to best practices.

Monitoring threats and responding quickly

Our Action Center empowers us to track and respond to new developments in Congress, the states, and other government bodies swiftly and powerfully.

Shaping policies that affect us

If it impacts our industry, we need to be part of the discussion. We are working with our lobbyists and allies to ensure – like every other industry – we have a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion policies affecting our businesses are considered.

Member Engagement
FSC exists to represent our members' interests. We need your expertise, experience, and action

Industry Data
There is power in numbers. FSC needs data to demonstrate our industry's size and power to policymakers

Financial Support
It takes money to lobby in Washington, create and verify standards, publish research papers and everything else FSC does