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“When we talk to the workers, they just want to go back to the cockroaches, where the studio owner charges them for toilet paper or makes them work when they are under the weather. I couldn’t get people to talk to me about the platform, and it makes sense because you’re angry at someone you know,” Killbride tells WIRED. But there’s a whole other side that’s been left unseen. This is a multibillion-dollar business that’s managed to isolate itself from criticism.
WIRED attempted to contact BongaCams, Chaturbate, LiveJasmin, and Stripchat for comment on the findings. No one answered.
The HRW report provides important recommendations for improving conditions at studios and platforms. This includes workplace safety standards for studios that are enforced and regularly inspected. Artists should have time off and receive a minimum wage for their work, studio managers should not force sex workers or agree to do anything on behalf of the artists. In addition, models should have the opportunity to report privacy issues in order to notify law enforcement or other authorities of workplace violations.
Making ideas on platforms alone is very difficult. Killbride says most if not all of the popular platforms for big people have strict requirements for creating accounts and specifically prohibit studio owners or anyone from accepting work on behalf of another. However, instead, companies are not doing enough, HRW researchers say, to provide statements in a simple, understandable way in different languages, including Spanish.
Platforms also need to provide ways for developers to report violations and receive a timely response, the researchers say. And, most importantly, platforms should implement policies that allow models to take ownership and transfer their accounts from the studio. The researchers found that many of the platforms’ issues involved language that could confuse users or technical issues that caused content creators to say they were barred from having their accounts.
Above all else, the show is very high on the owner’s issues, because the researchers found that the studios often use “recycled” accounts – which were confirmed and established by one singer and kept by the studio – to avoid the requirements for a few years. and spreading the word about child abuse.
“We’ve found that even though platforms are very strict and have very clear policies about child transfer, studios are still able to hire children and use fake IDs or, in many cases, recycled accounts,” says Killbride. “Our survey was large, but most of the people we spoke to started streaming as children between the ages of 13 and 17.”
Killbride emphasizes that this illustrates a key point in sex worker empowerment and job reform: Listening to workers about their needs and safety can help them do their jobs effectively and fairly and, at the same time, protect other vulnerable people. In this case, by allowing camera operators to control and transfer their accounts and followers, major advertising companies can also significantly reduce the spread of child pornography.