LAS VEGAS—ABC News reporter Devin Dwyer produced a new report aired Thursday night on the legacy network about the age verification debate in the United States and its impacts on adult entertainment. Dwyer and his crew shot much of the segment during the 2025 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) in January.
Dwyer serves as the outlet’s lead, Washington, D.C.-based reporter covering the U.S. Supreme Court. Much of the reporting in this feature was to provide audiences with the necessary background information about the case of Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Paxton, which is poised to determine whether age verification laws violate the First Amendment.
Cherie DeVille, winner of MILF Performer of the Year at this year’s AVN Awards, is featured as the framing device of the story, highlighting her love for the adult industry.
“This isn’t a whim or something that I’m going to do for a week,” DeVille tells Dwyer in the piece. “I love this job. … It’s very good business for me.”
In a considerably balanced report, Dwyer goes further to examine the intricacies of the adult industry by offering a limited but intimate glance at the AEE show floor. He interviews several attendees of the expo, with several people expressing concern that age verification is a violation of their privacy rights.
One attendee tells Dwyer, “I think their heart is in the right place. The execution is not there. There’s a way to do it, it’s just not the way it’s being done.”
It is worth noting that many performers interviewed for the report support protecting minors from adult material, but not in the way states like Texas and Utah are doing.
Dwyer also interviews proponents of age verification, including Iain Corby of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA).
Corby, who participated in several panels during the InterNext summit that coincided with the consumer-facing AEE, provides Dwyer with technical claims asserting that age verification systems are secure and safeguard against data breaches. However, the report overlooks the reality that age verification systems aren’t inherently immune from such.
Corby explains that companies the AVPA represents have developed technology to the point where data collection is minimized. But minimized or not, there is still data being retained.
Corby has also sided with several anti-porn proponents of age verification, including the far-right National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). Dawn Hawkins of NCOSE is interviewed by Dwyer as well, rebuffing claims that age verification legislation violates the First Amendment by the reasoning that its stated goal of protecting minors online reflects “the values of a common good.”
“As long as we’re prioritizing adults’ access to this content and not also prioritizing children’s safety, we are going to destroy the next generation,” Hawkins tells Dwyer.
DeVille responds to these claims by saying, “I do not care what you think about porn. This should terrify you because this is a massive government overstep … in the United States.”
Read the full story here. View the broadcast segment below:
