“When we talk to workers, they just go back to the cockroach stories, how studio owners charge them for toilet paper or make them work while on their period. I couldn’t get people to talk about the platform, but of course you’re mad at the guy you know, so that’s completely justified,” Kilbride told WIRED. Ta. “But there is another layer that remains completely invisible. This is a billion-dollar industry that has been able to escape blame.”
WIRED reached out to BongaCams, Chaturbate, LiveJasmin, and Stripchat for comment on the findings. No one responded.
HRW’s report outlines key recommendations to improve the situation at both the studio and platform level. This includes occupational safety standards for studios that carry out regular inspections. Models must be able to take breaks and receive minimum wage for their work. Studio management may not force models to perform certain sexual acts or agree to perform any acts on their behalf. In addition, models must have access to confidential reporting mechanisms so that they can notify law enforcement and other authorities about workplace violations.
Making recommendations for the platform itself is even more nuanced. According to Killbride, most if not all of the popular adult streaming platforms have strict authentication requirements for account creation, especially if a studio owner or someone agrees to terms and conditions on behalf of someone else. It is prohibited. In practice, however, HRW researchers argue that companies are not doing enough to provide their terms of service in a simple, easy-to-understand format in a variety of languages, including Spanish.
According to the researchers, platforms need to provide channels through which content creators can report violations and receive timely responses. And importantly, platforms must establish policies that allow models to take ownership and transfer their accounts from studios. Researchers found that the current state of many platforms includes policy language that can confuse users and technical complexities that prevent content creators from claiming ownership of their accounts. I discovered it.
Above all, the risk of account ownership issues is particularly high. Researchers found that studios often used “recycled” accounts (accounts that were authenticated and established by one photographer and then maintained by the studio) to circumvent minimum age requirements. It is. You can stream child sexual abuse content.
“Despite the platform having very strict and completely clear policies about not streaming children, studios are still using fake identities, or more commonly recycled accounts, to We found ourselves employing kids and streaming,” Kilbride said. “Although all of our research was with adults, many of the people we spoke to started streaming when they were between 13 and 17 years old.”
Kilbride emphasizes that this situation reflects important ideals of sex worker advocacy and labor reform in general. Listening to workers’ needs and the protections that help them do their jobs most effectively and equitably also protects other vulnerable populations. In this case, by allowing photographers to manage and transfer their accounts and their following, the adult streaming industry could also significantly reduce the prevalence of child sexual abuse content.