Pornhub walks away, Grok's user evaluation score and TikTok US fights fires
Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation's Week in Review, your need-to-know news and analysis about platform policy, content moderation and internet regulation. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by members like you.
In today's newsletter, it's exits left, right and centre. The standout news is about Pornhub exiting one of its largest markets but users are looking for TikTok alternatives and creators are experiencing what it means to be shown the door. Craig David has never been so right.
I took the week off from hosting duties but Mike picks up the theme in this week's Ctrl-Alt-Speech with internet policy expert Konstantinos Komaitis. Go and have a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to new subscribers from VerifyMy, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Eticas AI, New York University, Linklaters. I promise to keep my early 2000s musical tastes to myself (most of the time).
Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW
Not every company is ready for Tech Coalition membership, but every platform has a role to play in child safety. Through Pathways, the Tech Coalition supports startups and small-to-medium platforms with free access to practical resources, expert guidance, and training to help prevent and respond to online child sexual exploitation and abuse. It’s a direct investment in strengthening child safety capacity across the industry.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
Pornhub’s parent company announced this week that it will block access to UK users that haven’t verified their age before 2nd February, effectively restricting access to users in a major market.
In a report by 404 Media, Aylo representatives said that they “want laws around the world that protect children” but that the Online Safety Act represented a “flawed sets of laws that in some jurisdictions were never intended to succeed.” Ouch.
One of a UK-ind: The surprising thing about this story is not that Aylo are exiting the UK but that it hasn’t done so a long time ago. Last June, it announced it was blocking users in France (EiM #313) over age verification laws while it no longer provides access to 23 of the 50 US states for the same reason. The company is pro-device level age verification, which will surely be looked at again in light of this move.
Momentum around teen social media bans is spreading faster than Leonardo Di Caprio goofing off: France’s National Assembly this week gave the green light for an under 15 ban that could come in as soon as September, according to Politico while India’s chief economic advisor advised the government to do the same. You can almost hear platform policy and compliance officers shaking their heads.
A new report by Resolver and the Molly Rose Foundation into a sadistic decentralised online group has highlighted the growing challenge of online risk intelligence. The Com — which has been previously linked to 764, a Neo Nazi child exploitation ring — is primarily made of boys and young men aged 11 to 25, who primarily target children with histories of self-harm, suicide and challenges with mental health. These people are groomed, abused and encouraged to commit crimes and attract more members, often in return for money. It’s a shocking overview of a harm type few will know about.
Sky News has a 10-minute report on the findings and speaks to parents whose children fell victim to The Com. Watch with discretion.
Editor’s note: This report is included on editorial merit. For transparency, Resolver has previously been a sponsor of the newsletter and Ctrl-Alt-Speech.