The pornographic state: the changing nature of state regulation in addressing illegal and harmful online content

Abstract

This article explores the failure of democratic nation-states to regulate corporate Internet intermediaries who essentially provide access to websites containing illegal and legal pornographic content. Existing literature credits this apparent diminishing regulatory role of states to neoliberalism. Drawing on Wacquant’s theory of ‘neoliberal statecrafting’ can explain the paucity of state media regulation while also accounting for when states do engage in alternative forms of regulation. Through a thematic analysis of key documents, media and interviews with ‘elite’ stakeholders in Australia and the United Kingdom, this research shows that private actors are generally exempt from state regulation, while individuals are simultaneously subject to punitive mechanisms for problematic and illegal uses of the Internet.