The regulatory discourse has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to porn platforms, say legal experts Valerie Rhein and Martin Fertmann.
Among the most visited websites worldwide are numerous porn sites. That is hardly surprising. However, what is surprising is that these highly frequented sites are left out of the heated debates on net regulation, even though the potential dangers on these platforms are significant: They range from digital violence to non-consensually uploaded material to documented child abuse.
Non-Debate
The reasons for this lack of debate are complex, say Valerie Rhein and Martin Fertmann. For several months, they have been exchanging views with researchers, journalists, activists and those affected in order to gain a better overview of this complex of topics that is still not well explored.
On the one hand, it is due to the "dirty stigma" that still attaches to the platforms, which is why politicians may prefer to devote themselves to other, more marketable topics, says Valerie Rhein. On the other hand, the structuring of pornography websites has so many dimensions and carries so much political dynamite that it is difficult to find anchor points where regulatory measures can be applied.
Lack of Transparency
A general development we observe on social networks is that private companies like Facebook, Google etc. set up private rules (e.g. Facebook's community standards) that determine when action is taken against content and when it is not. Slowly, this development is moving towards institutional control.
Pornography platforms have so far evaded these dynamics and they are still comparatively non-transparent in terms of corporate structure and traceability of their rules and practices. There are first signs of change towards more transparency. For Valerie Rhein and Martin Fertmann, it is important to follow up on these developments.
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Valerie Rhein
Martin Fertmann
Johanna Sebauer
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