LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Few milestones celebrated in 2026 carry greater significance for the online adult industry than the 30th anniversary of ASACP.
Founded in August 1996 by XBIZ CEO Alec Helmy, the organization originally called Adult Sites Against Child Pornography changed its name in 2005 to the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection while keeping the ASACP acronym. This shift reflects its expanding mission and the industry’s ongoing commitment to child protection.
ASACP is a non-profit, member-supported organization that has operated an internationally recognized Tipline since 1996, allowing web admins and the public to report suspected child pornography anonymously. To date, it has received over 1.3 million reports.
During this process, ASACP collects details such as the site’s IP address, hosting and billing providers, ownership, and links to other sites. It then sends verified “Red Flag” alerts to agencies like the FBI, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and European CSAM hotlines. Over the years, ASACP significantly upgraded its Tipline infrastructure, enabling it to gather more precise data on reports to help monitor the prevalence of CSAM and assess the success of its efforts to fight this serious crime.
The Tipline is supported by ASACP’s sister organization, the ASACP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity. This organization also funds the Restricted To Adults (RTA) labeling program, which partners with content filtering software to offer parents, institutions, libraries, and schools free and effective protection against age-inappropriate content. Donations to the ASACP Foundation are tax-deductible for U.S. businesses and may also offer tax benefits to international operators.
Alongside its CSAM Reporting Tipline and RTA meta label, ASACP provides digital media companies with market-specific Best Practices, a formalized Code of Ethics, and tools such as a list of banned words and phrases commonly used in CSAM web searches. This list is available in 25 languages and functions as a simple plugin for adult search engines, tube sites, and other platforms that depend on user-generated content, helping scrub user inputs to filter out problematic content before it appears on their sites and providing proactive tools for businesses to protect children.
This list of services only begins to cover the association and the elements driving its ongoing success.
An Association Built on Community
ASACP’s success is rooted in its committed staff, including Executive Director Tim Henning, who has been part of ASACP since it was founded, and veteran Operations Director Erege Macis, who anchors the day-to-day business. Fundraising Director Michelle Marriott, Systems Manager and Developer Tanguy De Courson, and longtime Digital Media Analyst and Writer Stephen Yagielowicz round out the team.
The sacrifices made by this close-knit group are significant, especially given that their work often exposes investigators and others to the disturbing realities of CSAM and takes a heavy emotional toll.
This small team is augmented by the guidance of its volunteer Advisory Council, which includes Helmy, with Brad Mitchell of MojoHost, Tony Rios of AVN Media Network, Larry Walters of Walters Law Group, Corey D. Silverstein of Silverstein Legal, Harmik Gharapetian of Epoch Payment Solutions, CAM4’s Stafford Kerr (Shaft), and Next Step Entertainment’s Michael H. Klein — all of whom provide valuable insights on the inner workings of the adult entertainment and digital media industries.
They are joined by a market-focused European Advisory Council that benefits from the experience of Chris Visser of DialXS, Alastair Graham from Age Checked Ltd., Friends2Follow’s Jean-Michael Veen, Steve Ball from Verifymy.io, and Walters and Silverstein, who share their insights.
ASACP and its mission have enjoyed the continued support of the industry’s top players and service providers for three decades. From AVN (ASACP’s first corporate sponsor) to Zombaio, an alphabet soup of companies, creators, and organizations have stood behind the association.
While the names have changed as businesses merged, evolved, or disappeared, the industry’s commitment to protecting children has remained remarkably consistent.
It is clear that ASACP’s message and mission of keeping children out of and away from adult entertainment continues to resonate with the stakeholders it directly impacts.
Outreach & Interaction
ASACP maintains a symbiotic relationship with the adult entertainment industry, actively participating in various events to share its expertise and resources. It fosters mutually beneficial connections with industry leaders, regulators, and stakeholders by engaging in networking, panels, seminars, and workshops, while presenting its stance, strategies, and tools. These events span the globe and allow ASACP to reach decision-makers on the front lines of adult entertainment who are best able to take the steps necessary to protect children from age-inappropriate materials.
The association aims to participate in as many relevant events as possible, supported by ongoing sponsorship from event organizers. This support includes complimentary admission and assistance with accommodations, travel costs, and other resources — aid that enables the association to maintain a presence where its voice matters most.
Other industry players organize events to support the association or launch promos, donating part of their sales. Some companies offer ASACP members and sponsors discounts on their products and services. There are many ways in which companies can leverage their assets, including through their customer base and mailing lists, site members and staffers, and more to help the association.
No company has taken such a direct role in this regard as DialXS, ASACP’s Exclusive Travel Sponsor, which has enabled the association to attend numerous events it would not otherwise have been able to.
The association deeply appreciates this generous support, exemplified by initiatives like its monthly Featured Sponsors and the yearly ASACP Service Recognition Award that has honored many of its leading benefactors.
In addition to its outreach to frontline operators in the adult entertainment industry, ASACP builds bridges beyond these businesses by leveraging the doors its mission, reputation, and success have opened, helping it protect at-risk youth. This outreach includes many global law enforcement and regulatory agencies, such as the FBI, U.S. Customs, Ofcom and Interpol, plus the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography — which includes the world’s largest financial institutions and other stakeholders, such as AOL, American Express, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Discover, Visa, Wells Fargo, and Yahoo, among others.
Beyond U.S. borders, ASACP continues to work behind the scenes to help reshape the U.K.’s digital media landscape by working with regulators across a range of issues and liaising with a wide range of global NGOs.
Together, these relationships strengthen industry advocacy while helping coordinate child-protection efforts across jurisdictions.
ASACP Earns Widespread Recognition
ASACP’s ongoing distinguished record of success has resulted in voluminous media coverage both within the adult industry and the broader mainstream media, highlighting its achievements over the past three decades.
One highlight is ASACP’s CSAM Reporting Tipline, which has identified thousands of illegal websites featuring underage performers and actual depictions of the sexual exploitation of children that were closed down by authorities — including the notorious “Dreamboard,” and billing firm “Regpay,” two of the largest CSAM busts, shuttered in large part due to ASACP’s analysis, forensic identification and reporting, which help differentiate between the truly illegal depictions and lawful depictions of “young looking” performers of legal age.
Through its efforts and industry knowledge, ASACP helps to make the haystack of suspected CSAM smaller and the prickly needles within it more visible, enabling law enforcement to focus its resources on fighting actual CSAM.
Another highlight is the association’s response to Congressional demands that the industry take action regarding children’s unrestricted access to age-inappropriate content online. As a result, the industry helped develop the RTA label, along with ongoing educational initiatives to promote its quick and widespread adoption.
Besides its Hotline, ASACP actively advances the RTA label with improvements like the RTA Verified program, along with a straightforward plugin for WordPress sites and a range of new-for-2026 enhancements. It also offers translations of its website and services and is expanding into peer-to-peer and mobile sectors, including launching parental controls for Android apps. These efforts help the organization stay current with rapidly evolving technology and the challenges it creates.
As a result of these efforts, ASACP has received a large number of accolades, awards, and other recognition from an array of organizations. Still, ASACP’s most significant acknowledgment may come from those involved in distributing CSAM and opponents of the association’s push for proactive corporate responsibility and self-regulation. This is demonstrated by frequent attacks on the association, its computer systems, and its other resources, as retaliation for ASACP’s efforts in dismantling commercial child pornography, legitimizing the modern adult entertainment industry, and leading in safeguarding the rights of both consumers and content creators alike.
ASACP Moves the Ball Forward
Over three decades, ASACP has adapted alongside dramatic changes in technology — from the early web and desktop publishing to social media, user-generated content, smartphones, streaming platforms, artificial intelligence, and modern age assurance regulations and systems. While the tools have evolved, the association’s mission has remained remarkably consistent.
One recent factor impacting the association’s mission is the rise of AI and generative content, which has been unfortunately (but predictably) misused to produce CSAM. The resulting swift uptick in illicit content caused ASACP’s Tipline reports to surge and resulted in increasingly severe hacking attempts.
Building on its previous achievements, ASACP presses onward with a commitment to creating a safe online environment for children without compromising the rights of consenting adults. It will continue its mission through technical solutions and by raising awareness among corporations, governments, and the public.
These efforts include highlighting the efficacy of parental controls and device-based age assurance, urging compliance with the UK’s Online Safety Act and other relevant child protection legislation, and detailing how the adult industry has a much better track record monitoring user-generated content than does big tech.
Few nonprofit organizations remain relevant for three decades. Fewer still continue adapting to each new technological challenge while remaining true to their founding mission. Supported generously by its sponsors, members, and contributors, ASACP will continue working with industry, regulators, and supporters to help keep children out of and away from age-inappropriate materials for another 30 years.
To learn more about how your business can help protect itself by protecting children, email tim@asacp.org.
