‘This is fucking nuts’: the role of payment intermediaries in structuring precarity and dependencies in platformized sex work

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the impact of governance developed and enforced by payment intermediaries on the working conditions of performers working on adult labour platforms. At the level of the payment infastructure, credit card networks Visa and Mastercard and payment processors set requirements for (adult) platforms on allowable content and how this should be moderated and verified. These rules are subsequently implemented by adult platforms. Based on interviews with 16 industry insiders, fieldwork, document analysis, and a survey amongst 117 online sex workers, the article demonstrates the impact of development and enforcement of these rules on sex workers. We argue that the rules set by payment intermediaries structure the industry in a way that prioritizes the interests of platforms over performers. These dynamics reinforce the already unequal labour relationship between platforms and performers, both by increasing the dependencies of performers on adult platforms and by creating content guidelines, content moderation, and consent verification systems that defer the risks onto performers. Sex workers experience substantial (financial) uncertainty and precarity, which is structured unequally. In particular, they contend with reduced opportunities for stable income, exacerbated health conditions, and increased reliance on third parties and undesired forms of work.