Sensitive content: Adult creators, models, & sex workers

Adult creators and sex workers are amongst some of the most-followed and highest-volume digital creators on the internet. With the recent mainstream proliferation of sites like OnlyFans, new opportunities to monetize adult content have grown significantly with over 3 million creators and over 170 million total users on the site. Many sex workers are highly reliant on engaging in marketing tactics, social media, etc. to drive revenue, yet they desire to strongly retain control over the content they’ve shared – the risk of content misuse, abuse, and negative fallout is high due to stigma.

In this same vein, any creator of sensitive or discreet content (personal photos shared on dating apps, sexting, etc) faces a similar concern and high risk. According to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, 1 in 8 people have had someone post or threaten to post sexually explicit photos of them online without their consent. The results of having a sensitive photo leaked without consent can be devastating financially and emotionally for victims. Victims of revenge porn who want to rid the internet of their image often spend upwards of $10,000 on service companies that promise to enforce DMCA rights.

Despite the fact that access to their content can be gated, when leaked, it can cost the creator millions of dollars in lost subscription revenue alongside detrimental effects on the creator's social life, family life, and/or career given the sensitive or potentially explicit nature of the leaked content.

Additionally, leaked content may contain potentially sensitive metadata including location details, which customers indicated have led to dangerous outcomes with followers with 76% indicating that they experience online abuse and harassment, 47% indicating they’ve experienced doxxing, and 45% indicating they’ve experienced catfishing as a direct result of sharing content online (according to our primary research).*

Adult creators are constantly engaging with cutting-edge technologies to solve these issues; 51% already use a brand/content monitoring service to actively scan and takedown content. Uniquely, they are extremely privacy aware. According to our proprietary research, 75% of NSFW content creators think about protecting their digital content and safety 8 out of 10 times when posting online (according to our proprietary research*) – and crypto friendly (80% have bought, owned, or traded crypto), as traditional banking systems often discriminate against them.

*Source: Primary study from Privy Labs with over 200 participants who self-identified as adult creators or sex workers

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