Joe, great article. The thing that scares me is, if platforms aren't the party being held responsible for this, then online performers / models / sex workers are necessarily saddled with that responsibility.

I recently decided to explore creating on OF. Because OF verifies the ID of users/buyers, creators don't have to; they can trust that they are selling to adults. If OF and similar sites stop doing this, then creators run the disgusting risk of selling nude and/or explicit content to minors who are merely pretending to be adults. Basically, every single creator on such a platform would have to collect ID from every single user to age-verify them, not to mention that the individual must never ever be mistaken in their assessment. This is untenable. This also puts the onus of responsibility on the sex worker, which means that online sex workers would face a HUGE risk of being jailed. In fact, for all the safety risks of having a platform age-verify a buyer... the safety risks of buyers showing their ID to each and every online sex worker whose content they consume — and of expecting small-time creators to keep that information confidential and safe from being hacked, on the same level that a corporation with a security team can — would be astronomically higher.

In essence, I'm afraid that letting platforms off the hook will end with people in all branches of the online sex work industry being penalized, en masse and in draconian fashion. I don't think that's the solution either, but frankly, I do not know what is. Dropping ID requirements altogether means that creators will inevitably sell content to children who have lied about their age simply by accessing a website — and as a prospective creator, I find this possibility super-gross (not to mention terrifying for the legal ramifications).

I appreciate your thoughts on how to protect buyers. Now I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on how to protect content creators as well — perhaps an idea for a follow-up? ;)