Amerikaanse sekswerkers vluchten massaal naar Mastodon

Sex workers are running out of safe online spaces. Craigslist is no longer displaying personal ads. The controversial classifieds site Backpage, which many escorts used to screen clients, has been seized by the FBI. Adult content is disappearing off Google Drive, and many sex workers say they’re being forced off social media. With the news that President Trump has signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), their options will continue to dwindle — and with it, the ability for many sex workers to pay their bills, let alone do so safely. Over the past few weeks, sex workers have been turning to an unexpected platform to remain online: the social network Mastodon, under a new instance called “Switter”. Melbourne-based company Assembly Four created Switter after its founders learned that social media platforms were either removing sex workers’ content or banning their accounts. Without the time or resources to build a whole new network from scratch, the group turned to Mastodon. Although ostensibly aimed at sex trafficking prevention, FOSTA’s reduction of legal protections for websites is having disastrous consequences for sex workers. Faced with the new potential for litigation, many websites are removing any content or avenues that could possibly violate FOSTA. It’s disconnecting many of the most vulnerable sex workers from crucial resources. “Those that are impoverished, those that are running away from abusive partners, those that are actively trying to get out of really bad situations, especially black, trans street workers”, N’jaila Rhee, an educator and sex worker who hosts The Cuntcast Podcast, tells The Verge. “They’re now cut off from a means of elevating themselves into a safer workspace.”

Megan Farokhmanesh in Amid FOSTA crackdown, sex workers find refuge on Mastodon (Theverge)