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Before: nomy]]> https://ethical.porn/?p=7464 Match: TikTok
After: . The Chinese company ByteDance launched Douyin in September 2016 and would have 100 million users within a year. However, this user base was mainly limited to China. Wanting a truly global audience, [...]]]> By Nicholas Journeyman

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Before: olitical weight was the influence the Chinese Government may have on the platform. Specifically, the concern is that the Chinese government could use TikTok to harm Americans in two main ways. First, it might influence what content people see, spreading misinformation or creating a division to weaken U.S. society. Second, it could access sensitive user data collected by TikTok, potentially using it for surveillance or targeting. This raises fears that
Match: TikTok
After: could quietly become a tool for China’s government to undermine the U.S. without people realizing it.

These concerns led to the United States House of Representatives passing H.R. 7521 on March 13, 2024, which would ban TikTok entirely unless divested by ByteDance. The Senate passed this bill on April 23, 2024, and Joe Bide

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Before: n signed it into law the next day. TikTok did file a lawsuit to challenge this, but it lost its appeal on December 4, 2024. 

In short, if the Supreme Court does not strike down this law, ByteDance will have to sell
Match: TikTok
After: or the platform will be banned in the United States. The uncertainty this has caused is immeasurable for users and people who use TikTok for their income. While many influencers may be able to survive by relying on other social media platforms, TikTok is so unique in its popularity that no one knows for sure. 

A notable population of people who have also embraced TikTok are sex workers. Though overlooked by mainstream outlets, this population has used TikTok to build their brands

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Before: , engage their fans, and share the ups and downs of being sex workers. Moreover, while other popular social media platforms regularly block or shadow-ban sex workers, TikTok is relatively neutral.

With TikTok on a collision course with being banned in America due to political pressures, American sex workers are at risk of losing a platform that has become incredibly important to their work. As such, this article examines the significance of
Match: TikTok
After: for sex workers and their concerns regarding a potential platform ban with insights provided by porn stars and sex workers such as Penny Barber, Alice Little, and Cherie Deville.

But before we dive into TikTik’s importance to sex work, we should first reflect on what the industry was like before TikTok.

Life before TikTok

Before TikTok dominated the world, adult performers and sex workers (like most entertainme

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Before: nt creators) had their online presence mostly equally spread across multiple social media platforms. 

Reflecting on this time, Cherie Deville shared how she approached social media. “Before
Match: TikTok
After: , my main social media platforms were Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube,” Deville said. 

“Instagram allowed me to share visual content and snippets of my work, while Twitter was excellent for its conversational nature, allowing explicit content and direct linking to adult content, which no other platform allows. YouTube helped in reaching a broader audience through longer videos and vlogs, complementing the other platforms.”

And Deville was not alone. Myriad performe

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Before: rs and sex workers, such as Alice Little, remember Twitter and Instagram being high-performing platforms before
Match: TikTok
After: .

However, while operating on these platforms was one thing, remaining on them proved challenging. As Penny Barber pointed out, it was pretty common for adult performers to be unfairly shadow-banned or de-platformed even if they didn’t violate a platform’s rules.

“Instagram is where it’s at, if you can manage to stay on the platform,” Barber shared. “I finally started my ninth acco

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Before: tions of dealing with a platform’s rules and the extra time spent operating all of these platforms, social media quickly became a cornerstone of the adult business. Performers and workers almost had no choice but to create profiles because the profiles not only allowed them to promote their content but also helped them build a direct connection with their fans. While performers were becoming increasingly frustrated by the unfair treatment they received on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook,
Match: TikTok
After: was about to shake up the industry.

TikTok Enters the Scene

TikTok formally entered the U.S. market when it merged with Music.ly in 2018. TikTok continued to build upon Music.ly’s growing popularity and quickly became a go-to platform for adult workers. 

Reflecting on this period, Little said, “I heard about TikTok right away, and heard of a handful of creators jumping onto the platform right away.”&nb

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Before: sp;

“Initially, yes—the goal was to have a presence in as many places as possible,” Little continued. “However, I quickly realized TikTok’s potential and began to take it much more seriously.”

Another person who quickly took TikTok seriously was Deville.

“I first heard about adult performers finding success on TikTok around 2018, thanks to Dani Daniels. She’s always been amazing at monetizing her social media and was an early adopter of
Match: TikTok
After: , showcasing its potential for our industry,” Deville said.

“The motivation was not just about being on every platform but leveraging TikTok’s unique strengths,” she continued. “TikTok offered a way to reach a vast and diverse audience through creative and short-form videos, which helped in expanding my reach and connecting with new fans in an engaging and authentic manner.”

In addition to providing another outlet for performers to connect with fans authentica

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Before: lly,
Match: TikTok
After: succeeded in many ways because its competitors failed to gain traction. As PornDude’s Viktor pointed out, “At first, it was hugely popular as a migration destination for people who used other platforms. Instagram was already in descent. Vine was about to shut down. Kik remained in the shadows, and it’s still there. Snapchat was more or less a joke. It couldn’t be anyone’s main destination for daily activi

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Before: ty.” 

As such, “TikTok was the natural migration destination,” Viktor continued. “Vine was the main contributor, in my opinion. And, because Vine was never quite an adult destination, the initial wave of popularity wasn’t adult either. But, there was something about the natural structure of
Match: TikTok
After: that made adult content inevitable. So, it’s natural that it took a couple of years before the whole ‘girls dancing on video’ mainstay became the top form of content on the platform.”

Another reason TikTok became so popular is that it became a near-perfect marketing tool for redirecting followers to their personal content on OnlyFans and other platforms. As Deville disclosed, TikTok became a significant tool for getting eyes on her revenue-generating content. 

�

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Before: ��I’ve noticed significant spikes in engagement and traffic to my other platforms when a TikTok video goes viral,” Deville said. “For example, popular TikTok videos have often led to increased sign-ups on my OnlyFans, as viewers become curious and want to see more of my content. This correlation highlights
Match: TikTok
After: ’s power in driving traffic and converting casual viewers into dedicated fans.”

However, this will likely not last. Barber was another performer who eventually joined TikTok. Unfortunately, as she points out, this move comes when TikTok faces an uncertain future.

“I started hearing more about TikTok after the fall of Vine, but as with most social media platforms, I was wary of putting in the work only to be outright banned or shadow banned, which is, in some ways, t

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Before: he worst outcome,” Barber shared. “It is quite a kick in the teeth that after I finally did start posting regularly in 2022 or 2023, having poked my little bunny nose out, finally convinced that it was safe, we might be losing TikTok all together.”

The Fair and Unfair Criticisms Against TikTok

By 2019
Match: TikTok
After: was being criticized for a wide variety of reasons and by a wide variety of significant people. An early concern criticism was that TikTok censored content that was critical of the Chinese government. Writing for

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Before: l="noreferrer noopener">Forbes, Enrique Dans claimed that TikTok had “become a magnet for sexual predators.” These issues compounded, and by November 2019, the US government began a national security review of ByteDance’s acquisition of an American company that allowed it to bring
Match: TikTok
After: to the US market. (YouTuber LegalEagle provides a thorough breakdown of these concerns here.)

As the New York Times reported, “The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel that reviews foreign acquisitions of American firms on national-security grounds

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Before: , is now reviewing the two-year-old deal after lawmakers raised concerns about TikTok’s growing influence in the United States, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was confidential. One of the people said that the American government had evidence of the app sending data to China.”

Interestingly, many in the adult space understand the concerns and criticisms directed towards TikTok. 

“Some criticisms against
Match: TikTok
After: do have weight, particularly regarding data privacy and the platform’s handling of user information,” Deville explained. “It’s essential for any social media platform to prioritize user privacy and security. However, it’s also important to recognize the positive impact TikTok has had on fostering creativity, providing a voice to marginalized communities, and offering a platform for diverse content creators.”

However, some, such as Little, felt that while “all

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Before: social media platforms have their upsides and downsides, responsible use is the responsibility of the individual.” 

Losing TikTok – Initial Reactions 

As mentioned above, concerns over TikTok’s relationship with China mounted. The US passed a law demanding that ByteDance sell
Match: TikTok
After: to an American company or the app would be banned. Similar to the mainstream, the adult performer and sex worker industries had a wide array of reactions to these bans. 

Because a ban has not yet gone into effect, mainstream users have not yet begun to process the significance of this law. However, since adults and sex workers consistently have to stay one step ahead of censorship, reactions to this ban were immediately shared throughout the industries.

For those like P

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Before: ornDude’s Viktor, this was not a surprising development. “Unregulated platforms are getting away with just about everything, because of their carte blanche approach to internal policing,” Viktor said. “They host the content, they provide it, they distribute it, but they take no accountability. Something like this was inevitable.”

“The problem is, these are passing monopolies,” Viktor continued. “Once
Match: TikTok
After: takes enough hits, another monopoly will take its place, leaving a graveyard in the wake.”

Others, such as Deville, were immediately concerned about what the industry might lose. 

“My initial reaction was one of concern and disappointment,” Deville explained. “TikTok has become a vital platform for creative expression and connection, especially during times of isolation. The ban seemed like a drastic measure that would impact millions of users who rely on it for

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Before: entertainment, education, and community building.”

“A TikTok ban would significantly hurt performers in the adult industry by cutting off a major source of traffic and visibility,” Deville continued. “
Match: TikTok
After: has been instrumental in helping many performers reach new audiences and build their brands in a way that other platforms don’t always allow. Losing this platform would mean losing a vital tool for engagement, promotion, and income generation.”

Echoing Deville, Little succinctly shared that banning TikTok “would remove a tremendous platform for gaining views, which would absolutely cause harm to the community.”

With that said, the overall sentiment was that while

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Before: losing TikTok would be harmful, those in the sex and adult entertainment industries would do what they always do: adapt.

The Potential of Life After TikTok 

No one knows what will happen with TikTok. ByteDance has said that, despite the law, it does not intend to sell
Match: TikTok
After: . In contrast, thought leaders like Scott Galloway have claimed that a sale or compromise is inevitable because there is so much money on the line. (Here is a TikTok of Galloway explaining this.) 

Though it is impossible to tell what TikTok’s future i

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Before: s, performers and sex workers are already preparing for its loss. 

“If TikTok is banned,” Deville shared, “Instagram and Twitter would likely benefit the most. Instagram’s Reels feature and Twitter’s engagement dynamics make them the next best alternatives for creators to share short-form video content and interact with their audiences. These platforms have already seen increased activity from
Match: TikTok
After: users looking for similar engagement opportunities.”

Similarly, Little also believes that platforms such as “X and Instagram would absolutely benefit from TikTok being banned.” 

Interestingly, Viktor isn’t so sure that other platforms would benefit from TikTok being banned. When asked which social media platform would benefit the most from a TikTok ban, Viktor shared, “That’s about as easy to predict as stock movements. I don’t know. No-one does.” <

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Before: /p>

“What I can tell you by way of informed estimate is that previously popular platforms are less likely to receive any boosts in popularity than newfound platforms. I doubt Snapchat and Instagram are going to ‘come back in style.’ New graveyards don’t revitalize old ones. The world moves forward.”

What Next?

As it stands,
Match: TikTok
After: has until January 19, 2025, for ByteDance to sell it or it will be banned. All sex workers and adult entertainers do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. In this case, this means assuming that TikTok will get banned. 

To prepare, creatives should prioritize popular platforms like Instagram, X, Twitch, and Reddit. This also means experimenting with less-known platforms such as Thriller, Clapper, Lemon8, and others. 

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Before: ilson, Travis Tritt, and the Chicks lately. 

Watch/Follow on Youtube:

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Follow me on IG:

Instagram.com/RazzleDangerously

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Match: TikTok
After: :

Tiktok.com/@mynameisrazzle

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After: :

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