A Twitter comment thread by user Cookie Cyboid:
âWhy are Tumblr and Facebook cracking down on sex so much? And why is Facebook in so overzealous about it? Itâs all Appleâs fault!â Ect etc.
I can explain it all. It is largely the fault of a set of US laws called SESTA and FOSTA.
Hereâs an article about them, but in short these laws make websites responsible for third party content related to sex work. They can be sued for having full service sex work ads on their platforms EVEN IF THEY DIDNâT KNOW ABOUT IT. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom
Iâll get to Tumblr and Facebook but first just lemme take a second to tell you these laws donât do what theyâre designed to do. They donât stop trafficking, they actually make it harder to find victims. Turns out the easiest way to find victims is online.
Also turns out if you remove sites used to screen clients, pimps spring up offering safe client lists. Removing advertising also forces sex workers out onto street corners. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/anti-sex-trafficking-advocates-say-new-law-cripples-efforts-to-save-victims-629081/
These laws were passed in April and we saw a lot of sites disappear overnight. So why are Tumblr and Facebook acting now?
They come into force next month. Next month any website with a US prescence can be sued if it allows, even unknowingly, sexual solicitation.
To my mind, Tumblr saw Apple removing the Tumblr app from their store and went âeh, we needed to ban porn anyway, weâll just act early.â
Their algorithm sucks because training an algorithm to spot lewd content is incredibly difficult.
Facebook yesterday announced its policy on sexual solicitation. Which is ludicrously overzealous, bans the discussion of anything related to sex, including incredibly vague language like âIâm looking for a good time tonight.â
The reason theyâre so overzealous isnât because theyâre screaming âSomebody think of the children!â
Itâs because if they miss *one* ad, they can be sued. They know algorithms for this suck, so theyâve decided to overcompensate for that and effectively ban talking about sex.
These laws come into force next month. At that time I expect Twitter to also crack down on sex work. I donât expect weâll be warned, Twitter will just remove accounts overnight.
âWhy donât you just start your own website, you arenât US based, just do that.â
There are a myriad of reasons I canât do that,
1. Age verification laws are going to happen soon here and I canât afford to pay for that software.
2. The UK gov is considering our own SESTA/FOSTA laws.
Mate Iâve made my opinion on that hellsite very clear. I donât need another store front. I need a place to communicate with queer communities and advertise. PornHub fucking sucks.
SESTA/FOSTA is an attempt to limit not only sex work, but queer expression online. Queer relationships are seen as inherently sexual to some. We need to be fighting this, because itâs not just a stick to hit sex workers with.
To my mind these laws were always about stopping consensual sex work, whilist also punching at queer people, and sexual expression. This is a censorship bill.
Yell at your elected representatives, America. Make them realize what this is, because it was sold on stopping sex trafficking. The options on it were so good that all the democrats voted for it too. Liberals are just as much at fault here.
I know there is a lot happening, and itâs hard to keep up with it all, but this is important. SESTA/FOSTA needs to be repealed.