Adult industry leaders like Pornhub release code of conduct

A coalition between Pornhub’s parent company Aylo and other adult content creators have come together to form the Adult Studios Alliance (ASA), which aims to standardize safety across the industry with its own code of conduct.

Safety precautions such as testing for HIV and other STIs every 14 days have long been mandatory for professional porn productions in the US. However, ASA’s goal is not to introduce new security procedures – it is to standardize them in a clear, unified and structured way, according to a press release.

ASA’s key guidelines include:

• Give complete transparency to artists like visual details and partners before booking

• Boundary Checklists and Pre-Shoot Discussions

• Intimacy coordinator or other contacts available before, during, and after the shoot

• Health and safety protocols – such as STI testing every 14 days

• Drug and alcohol restrictions on shooting, and guidelines regarding prescription medication

• Requirements for licensing, transparency and ethical representation

The full Code of Conduct is available on the ASA website.

“The ASA Code of Conduct sets a benchmark for how adult content should be created,” Alex Kecky, Aylo’s vice president of brand and community, commented in the press release.

Aiello is one of the founding members of ASA; It also owns Pornhub and studios like Brazzers and Sean Cody. Other founding members are Dorcel, Ericlust, Gamma Entertainment (which owns sites like Adult Time), Mile High Media, and Ricky’s Room.

KKC added, “When we protect artists’ rights, we promote an empowering work environment and destigmatize porn, which ultimately benefits both our industry and society as we create safer content.”

“I believe strong production standards are the foundation of a safe and respectful and successful industry, and I’ve always believed that artists deserve nothing less. That’s why I’m really excited to see the launch of the Adult Studio Alliance and enthusiastically welcome this initiative,” said performer Cheri Deville, who has written for Mashable.

Jizz Lee, performer and marketing director for CrashPadSeries.com, a queer porn studio, told Mashable that much of the groundwork and bullet points for this new code of conduct were created in the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC)’s Performer Bill of Rights and Code of Conduct, which was created by a volunteer-based group of performers a decade ago.

While it would have been a consideration for a major studio to give APAC credit, Lee said, it’s great to see this transparency and effort by a major studio. “It shows that artists have the power to influence the industry and working conditions,” he said. Lee wants the ASA’s code of conduct to include points on AI, tagging (marketing language used specifically for BIPOC and LGBTQ artists), and personal health and artist agency (such as working with HIV-positive artists).

This alliance and code of conduct comes at a time when the adult industry is under scrutiny. The UK and France, as well as about half of the United States, have instituted age-verification laws that require users to input their personal data to access explicit content.

Despite free speech experts and a preliminary study showing that age-verification doesn’t work for its intended purpose — keeping minors off porn sites — more places are adopting them. This has led to even non-obvious platforms like Spotify introducing age-verification. Earlier this year, First Amendment and Internet experts warned Mashable that these laws could fundamentally change the Internet and often require more and more personal data as time goes on.

There is also an ongoing conservative pressure in the United States to ban porn altogether. The far-right blueprint for Trump’s second presidential term, Project 2025, outlines banning pornography and jailing creators. Since Trump’s second inauguration in January, a few bills have been introduced to ban porn. However, there has been no change in them since the bill was introduced.