The European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance (ESWA) has welcomed the EU’s decision not to include mandatory phone registration for adult content creators on porn platforms within the Digital Services Act.
ESWA have campaigned against the inclusion of Amendment 1521 Article 24b since July 2021, organising an advocacy campaign to mobilise their member organisations as well as allies. In a letter of concern which was published in January 2022, ESWA stressed that mandatory cell phone registration would be detrimental to the rights of sex workers and other online content creators.
Yigit Aydinalp, Programme Officer for ESWA, gave some more context around digital security for sex workers, Article 24b and why its exclusion from the Digital Services Act is a step in the right direction.
“It is true that the majority of the mainstream platforms go beyond collecting phone numbers and require content creators to submit passports and other forms of IDs. ESWA advocates for data minimisation, especially for vulnerable communities such as sex workers. Sex work is a heavily stigmatised activity globally and in many national contexts, it is criminalised too. Sex workers often build strategies and practices aimed at protecting their privacy in their day-to-day lives because lack of privacy means being extremely vulnerable to discrimination, being stalked, deported, arrested and experiencing physical violence from law enforcement and other individuals. There are many cases where sex workers' private information such as real names, and address fell into the hands of individuals who then use this information to extort money or demand sex from sex workers. In such cases, sex workers can't even make a complaint to the police because they are afraid of being outed or charged by the police due to the criminalisation of sex work. For sex workers, online safety equals offline safety. It is as simple as this. What these platforms are doing by collecting such sensitive data from sex workers is putting them in danger and increasing the likelihood of data leaks that can cost sex workers their lives.
There are many ways of use of porn platforms by sex workers that anyone outside of the community would not know about. However, the main reason we are strongly against such data collection practices is that they are discriminatory. The said aim of laws that try to bring mandatory data collection, such as the proposed DSA amendment article 24b, is to prevent image-based sexual violence, such as so called 'revenge porn'. However, image-based sexual violence happens on every platform online. Such content does not only circulate on porn platforms and yet we do not see the Commission calling for mandatory registration for users of non-porn platforms. It is a violation of our right to privacy and it is a populist, hastily drafted and discriminatory article that will not prevent image-based sexual violence and have absolutely no benefit to people who are already victims of image-based sexual violence. It is a band-aid measure for an open wound.
The bigger issue here is the practice of drafting policies that directly impact sex workers without consulting the sex worker community. Sex workers, especially the most marginalised such as racialised and undocumented migrant sex workers, are hurt by the data collection practices and policies of platforms. What amendment 24b shows us is that: a) the policymakers who drafted the article are so out of touch with the realities of sex workers that they do not even know about the existing data collection practices by porn platforms therefore they think that bringing an additional phone registration will solve everything and, b) without meaningful consultation with sex workers in such issues, effective policymaking is not possible.
There are many possible technical solutions to problems that also protect our human rights if proper consultation with the impacted communities is done. However, we also would like to stress that while technical solutions are important in addressing many issues we face today, real change will always come from structural changes. Issues such as image-based sexual violence can be best addressed by tackling misogyny, whore-stigma, and providing comprehensive sexual education aimed at tackling all forms of gender-based violence, including online. Only by giving people more rights, non-judgemental and easily accessible services, we can tackle structural issues in our societies.
We certainly welcome the decision of leaving amendment 24b out of the final text of DSA. This is a step in the right direction and we and our members are relieved that such harmful practice is not going to be a mandate of the EU. We appreciate and support the will and readiness of the EU to tackle image based sexual violence online however we need a better alternative to 24b which can only be found by working together with all stakeholders, including sex workers.
However the issue of image based sexual violence still needs to be addressed and stronger regulations must be drafted to tackle this issue. It is crucial that porn platforms and the rest of the internet is structured in a way that prevents image based sexual violence and empower individuals to fight against online abuse. ESWA is not against regulating porn platforms and establishing quality and safety standards however, sex workers must be included in the decision making processes. Since porn platforms are online workplace for many sex workers who are trying to make a living, they must have a say in how these platforms are regulated because the impact of any regulation will have great impact on sex workers' health, safety and privacy.
For sex workers, the issue of problematic data collection practices by many adult content platforms still persists also. Although, more anonymised tools and processes for age and ID verification exist and are used by some smaller platforms, on many other platforms sex workers still have to provide passport copies and other sensitive information which put sex workers in danger of data leaks that can lead to criminalisation and physical danger. Although we are glad that this similar mass data collection practice is not adopted by the EU as a law, sex workers on online platforms are still without power to negotiate with platforms in order to influence platform decisions to scrap harmful data collection and processing practices.
Lastly, we have to repeat what we always say. Structural issues such as image based sexual violence cannot be resolved by technical solutions only. Users of any given technology are able to appropriate these tools in ways that are not always foreseeable to inventors, designers and/or policymakers. People keep finding alternative uses and walkarounds for technologies therefore we do not believe in purely technical solutions.
ESWA will continue to fight against image based sexual violence online and engaging with other civil society organisations and European policymakers and we are hopeful that if we work together, we can find effective ways that simultaneously protect vulnerable groups' privacy and safety. We are as always open for more dialogue and ready to collaborate further for our shared goal: a safer and fairer internet for all, especially for marginalised and vulnerable communities.”