The “industry” is fighting the age verification wars

When they decided To take over the age verification process in their final season, industry Co-creators Conrad Kaye and Mickey Down never expected the issue to become such a political football.

“It was in the ether of British politics, but it wasn’t front and center when we started writing the scripts or filming it, and then it really broke out as a sort of topic of conversation on the front page of the BBC,” Kay says.

Season 4 of HBO’s exciting and very funny financial drama continues, premiering Sunday industryExpand beyond the cutthroat world of investment banking into technology, pornography, age verification, and politics. As the season begins, there’s a fight among the top brass at Tender, a fintech company that recently went public, over whether or not to continue processing payments for Siren, an adult platform similar to OnlyFans. While Siren and other gambling and pornography companies make up a significant portion of Tender’s revenue, some Tender executives are spooked by threats of sweeping new age verification laws and anti-porn rhetoric from the UK Labor Party and feel there is more to be gained by cleaning up their act.

In fact, the UK’s Internet Safety Act, which requires people to verify their age before they can view pornography and other restricted content, came into effect in July 2025, long after Kay and Dawn came up with the film’s story. industryLatest season. However, it had similar effects to those that Siren felt. Pornhub’s traffic in the UK has dropped by almost 80 percent in light of the regulations, and it faces similar challenges in the US, where half of the states have enacted age verification laws. In December, members of Congress considered 19 bills aimed at protecting children and teens online, though critics said some were unconstitutional.

“It kind of showed how fragile absolute freedom of expression is,” Down says, describing “completely different” views on the issue, ranging from puritanism even within liberal enclaves to a “shut it all down” approach to censorship by conservatives.

while industry It was a huge hit for HBO, and appears to have taken off during season three, as viewership for the premiere was up 60 percent compared to the season two premiere. Season 4 builds this momentum very effectively, and feels more prescient than ever.

“We have the OnlyFans piece, then the fintech piece, then the scam piece,” Kay says. But then, “in the latter half of the season, we get the rising face of authoritarianism in the UK and the US.”

The new season spends more time with junior banker and part-time OnlyFans model Sweetpea Golightly, who keeps her face away from adult content, but whose identity is still revealed without her consent. It’s a more nuanced look at what happens to modern online sex workers, who are often portrayed on television in more black-and-white terms.

“I started the third season like this, I am an empowered woman. I have this OnlyFans account. I never leave money on the table. “In Season 4, we look at what it will look like when that starts to shift. It can be both empowering and exploitative,” says Down.

In fact, almost all of the characters industry It is both empowering and exploitative, depending on the circumstances. And while the final season has its own news, the most entertaining part of the show is watching it peel back those complex and often unsavory layers.

Last season followed publishing heiress Yasmine, played by Marissa Abella, as she dealt with the fallout from her Epstein-like father’s disappearance — for which she was arguably partly responsible — and confronts the extent of his abuse. Despite being exposed to his predatory nature since childhood, Jasmine also uses other women around her, a pattern that continues in season four, as she navigates her new marriage with old aristocrat turned failed tech brother, Sir Henry Mock (Kit Harington).