Abstract

The regulation of sexual exploitation on social media is a pressing issue that has been addressed by government legislation. However, laws such as FOSTA-SESTA has inadvertently restricted consensual expressions of sexuality as well. In four social media case studies, this paper investigates the ways in which marginalized groups have been impacted by changing censorship guidelines on social media, and how content moderation methods can be inclusive of these groups. I emphasize the qualitative perspectives of sex workers and queer creators in these case studies, in addition to my own experiences as a content moderation and social media management intern for Lips.social. This paper concludes with potential solutions to current biases in social media content moderation.

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Dr. Michael Lapke

Document Type

Paper

Disciplines

Applied Ethics | Computer Sciences | Gender and Sexuality | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

DOI

10.25776/jftv-sx08

Publication Date

12-1-2023

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Lip(s) Service: A Socioethical Overview of Social Media Platforms’ Censorship Policies Regarding Consensual Sexual Content

The regulation of sexual exploitation on social media is a pressing issue that has been addressed by government legislation. However, laws such as FOSTA-SESTA has inadvertently restricted consensual expressions of sexuality as well. In four social media case studies, this paper investigates the ways in which marginalized groups have been impacted by changing censorship guidelines on social media, and how content moderation methods can be inclusive of these groups. I emphasize the qualitative perspectives of sex workers and queer creators in these case studies, in addition to my own experiences as a content moderation and social media management intern for Lips.social. This paper concludes with potential solutions to current biases in social media content moderation.