As governments and technology companies shape the future of online privacy, sex workers around the world are organizing against threats to free speech and data ownership.
“Experience shows that sex workers are beta testers who take away people’s digital rights,” said Ana Ornelas, head of digital policy at the European Sex Workers Rights Alliance (ESWA). ESWA represents more than 100 member organizations in 30 countries across Western, Eastern, and Central Europe and Central Asia.
Adult creators are still being stripped of their bank accounts, but they’re not the only ones affected
Take FOSTA/SESTA, for example, twin laws passed in 2018 in the United States that ostensibly aimed to stop online sex trafficking, but actually made it harder for sex workers and others working in the adult industry to exist online. Big tech platforms have cracked down on sexual content, resulting in ongoing bans and shadowbans. Studies have found that this reduces safety for adult workers.
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Age verification laws, which require users to hand over identification to tech companies before accessing adult content, are currently costing sex workers income, while early research suggests they are not actually working to keep minors from accessing porn sites.
Sex workers, unionized or not, continue to fight bad technology policies. For example, Ornelas recently met with officials working on new EU regulations on artificial intelligence that are “simpler” and “innovation-friendly.” Ornelas highlighted how the proposal leaves room for technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
“I am very concerned about the exception,” Ornelas said, noting that the package allows for the production of non-consensual deepfake sexual content for artistic reasons or when the subject cannot be identified. “The image could be cropped from someone’s Instagram bikini photo. I think we should be more transparent about big tech companies and what’s in their databases. We don’t need to be completely naked for this technology to be dangerous.”
5,000 miles away from ESWA’s campaign, workers at Shelly’s Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada, are fighting on a different digital frontier. In December, brothel workers received a contract from management that included transferring image rights and ownership of intellectual property to the workplace. In response, the workers sought assistance from the Communications Workers of America and began the process of unionizing.
I worked at Shelly’s so I could chase my dreams, but that doesn’t mean they own those dreams either. – Adalind Gray
“That word was loud enough for the ranch to claim they owned everything we ever made,” says Adalind Gray, one of seven Sherrid Ranch workers who have been fired since starting the union campaign. The newly formed United Brothel Workers (UBW) filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Mr. Gray and other workers.
“I have big dreams for the band. I worked in Ranchi to pay for the studio,” Gray says. “That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. I also think it’s possible that they could claim that they also own my online sex work, which is the content I create for OnlyFans.”
Using workers’ digital likenesses for profit or AI training sets a dangerous precedent for workers across all industries. UBW spokesperson Scott Goodstein says, “If you’ve built a following online, or have a podcast, a Substack, or an interest in independent work, you’re probably worried that your employer wants to permanently own a piece of everything you do.” “This type of contract needs to be stopped immediately.”
“I worked at Shelly’s to pursue my dreams, but that doesn’t mean they own those dreams,” Gray says. “No employer is entitled to a piece of the entire community that I’ve spent years building just because I work there.”
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The fight against age verification
Sex workers are also at the forefront of the fight against age verification laws in the UK, Australia and the US. According to the Association of Age Verification Providers, nearly 30 countries have introduced age verification laws, and at least four more are expected to introduce laws in the next one to two years.
“Regulations in one country affect everyone’s web,” says Mish Pony, CEO of the Scarlet Alliance, a national group representing sex workers across Australia. “When technology companies write terms and conditions, they are doing so based on the regulatory environment in which they are based, so US and EU laws have disproportionate influence globally.”
“Our government once imposed a fine on Company X, which had no physical presence in Australia. How can we actually force them to pay that fine?” Pony asks.
Tech companies are being encouraged to adopt safeguards related to regulations from powerful countries, which have increased censorship of sexual health and educational content, as well as adult content.
“We have developed a community response every time someone has had their profile removed,” said Kit Turner, external affairs officer at the Sex Workers Union of Great Britain (SWU). “Everyone tries to get together and like a file report and ask for it to be restored. Sometimes that’s effective, sometimes it’s not. But we’re sharing what knowledge we can glean about what makes someone more likely to keep their profile.”
“We spoke with [Australia’s] “The eSafety Commissioner and we have been running a postcard campaign with health professionals concerned about the impact these regulations will have on people’s access to online information,” Pony said. “We just want to make sure people are aware of these harmful consequences.”
In the United States, Sasha Bee, an organizer with the Sex Workers Action Alliance and Erotic Professionals and Arise United, is currently leading awareness and opposition to age verification laws in several states. Age verification laws are currently in effect in more than half of the states in the United States. “We are fundamentally fighting a violation of free speech,” Bee says.
Why we must listen to sex workers
Dating back to the early days of the internet, sex workers are credited with driving technology adoption and innovation, contributing to things like the first online credit card authorization system.
“Adult content creators created the Internet,” Bee admits, and research supports this claim. “If you like the fact that you have fast bandwidth and can stream Netflix and Hulu on the same WiFi, thank sex workers. The demand for their work created the internet we see today,” Bee says.
But in the age of big tech like X and Meta, Turner says it’s hard to argue with what they’re doing.
But that hasn’t stopped sex workers from campaigning and collaborating to change the world of technology. SWU works closely with Decrim Now UK, a coalition fighting for the decriminalization of sex work in the UK. Organizer Audrey Caradonna said Decrim Now has been trying to organize sex worker strikes against AdultWork, a platform where sex workers’ work can be promoted, for about two years now, citing rising costs and declining profits. Decrim Now has also been participating in sex work strikes on International Women’s Day since 2018.
Adult content creators created the Internet. – Sasha Bee
In December, the Scarlett Alliance released research into the impact of online regulation. One of their findings was that Australia’s online safety laws are having a negative impact on young people and marginalized groups by restricting access to vital sexual and reproductive health education and drug harm reduction information. Decrim Now UK, ESWA and industry research firm SWR Data are also currently working to collect similar data to monitor the impact of new technology policies on sex workers. These organizations can use data about the lived experiences of sex workers to inform policy makers about how legal decisions may impact other people on the internet.
“A lot of what’s happening to activists and marginalized people in countries like the United States and Germany is taken straight from the scenario of how sex workers have been treated over the past few years,” Ornelas says. “We’ve seen it come true for digital rights activists here in Germany who have been placed on a travel ban list to the United States. This is exactly how sex workers have been treated. They have been denied entry to the United States based on the fact that they are sex workers or performers. Border control has the data, but they suddenly find themselves taken to a private room to explain themselves.”
Sex workers whose digital privacy is at risk have strategies to mitigate these risks and leverage their communities to protect each other, Ornelas said. Among other resources, ESWA provides accountability recommendations for social media platforms and will soon publish findings on sex work and deepfake technology. Mashable also includes a breakdown of top digital security tips from sex workers.
Ornelas says civilians – people who are not sex workers – should learn from the community how to protect themselves online. “It’s going to be helpful as things are progressing.”
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