“The porn industry has long placed an emphasis on young girls. Reuters/Russell Boyce”

“A federal appeals court judge just made it a lot easier for the pornography industry to abuse and exploit children for profit.

“The Aug. 3 legal decision, which has received far less media attention that it deserves, represents the most significant blow to opponents of child porn in decades. We believe it could lead to a sharp increase in the number of underage performers being exploited due to the removal of legal oversight and penalties for uploading or distributing images that feature minors.

“We’ve been studying the business of porn for years, as scholars, advocates and experts in legal battles. In fact, we provided expert testimony in 2013 in a related court case and endured two hours of grilling from the judge and porn industry lawyers.

“The industry is now celebrating its landmark victory.”

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