Below the Fold - Sex sells… but not for investors

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Virginia renters are celebrating a victory: A $1 billion rental assistance program helping tenants facing eviction get caught up on rent. This is a big leap for the state, who just a few years ago represented half of the cities ranked on a list of the 10 largest evicting cities in the country. Now Virginia is offering stronger protections and has become a national leader for distributing federal rental assistance dollars for those impacted by the pandemic — they were also among the first to create a statewide rent relief program using federal relief funds. As a result, they’re already seeing evictions fall.

PRIVACY

Apple's new tool against child exploitation alarms privacy advocates
Wed Aug 18

Apple has always publicly championed consumer privacy. Even in situations as difficult as the 2016 San Bernardino shooting when the FBI wanted access to the shooter’s iPhone, Apple has been cautious. The pitfalls of such protections are clear according to annual reports by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which show how often tech companies shared cases of child pornography on their products. In 2020, Facebook reported over 20.3 million cases while Apple hardly made 300.

After years of criticism for their low reporting, it’s unsurprising that Apple was thrilled to announce their new plan to root out photos of child sexual abuse from users’ iPhones and iPads. With support from child safety groups and activists (such as actor Ashton Kutcher), Apple rolled out the tool. Here’s how it works:

First, the software scans your iPhone. If it detects any potential images of child sexual abuse, those images are then encoded into a set of numbers.
Then those numbers are run against known images of child abuse in NCMEC’s database. If 30 or more encoded images match, Apple sends the content to an employee for review.
If the employee confirms abuse in the photo, Apple forwards the information to authorities and locks the user’s account.

But cyber security experts are far from thrilled, calling this a huge invasion of privacy because it scans images directly on the device (as opposed to only images intentionally shared such as on Facebook). While Apple claims users will have some control by disabling iCloud, critics worry the tool can still be abused to scan any images on the device. Some are further concerned with what this tool means for criminal investigations, even if Apple says it won’t bow to authorities. In fact, WhatsApp’s head of messaging tweeted his opposition and shared how WhatsApp will not adopt a similar system. And, over 8,000 security experts, researchers, professors, and more signed an open call asking Apple to halt the launch of this tool this Fall. Concerned Apple consumers are welcome to sign the letter as well.

Our Sources:

→ Initial coverage: New York Times and NPR
→ WhatsApp employee’s disapproval: Twitter

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CREATOR ECONOMY

OnlyFans' biggest moneymaker is also keeping it from making money
Fri Aug 20

You may have heard that OnlyFans will no longer be allowing sexually explicit content on their platform. As a refresher...

The subscription social media site launched as a destination for viewing adult content in 2016 by founder Tim Stokely, who previously built a number of adult entertainment websites.
As other digital platforms began cracking down on online sex work, OnlyFans allowed sex workers to thrive, giving them 20% of all transactions. Some report three figure incomes.
Two years later, another entrepreneur of the online porn industry bought a 75% stake in OnlyFans — signaling positive support for sex work to continue on the site.
But just this month, the company announced their departure from explicit content, upsetting its core users who feel their work is what allowed the company to get this far.

So what changed? Complexities around payment escalated — especially after Mastercard announced a requirement for banks to ensure pornography sellers have clear, unambiguous, and documented consent in place. And payment problems also hurt creators. Many felt violated after customers viewed their content only to turn around and report those transactions as fraudulent — some resulting in thousands of dollars lost.

With such difficulties, OnlyFans started to expand beyond porn and consider themselves a grander media hub. To fund this transition, the company turned to venture capital (VC) with a pitch touting their 500%+ growth in both users and revenue during the pandemic. But this impressive, porn-driven growth wasn’t enough to diffuse other concerns…

VCs are wary of putting their money behind adult content. While its growth would normally be highly attractive, the sexual content not only deters investment but may even be outright prohibited for some VC funds.
Several investors are uneasy over the possibility of underage users as online sex trafficking schemes are still rampant (though OnlyFans says it has robust documentation around consent and age).
And yesterday, OnlyFans halted their fundraising plans altogether. Reports allege they’re holding off until the dust settles from their controversial content ban.

Critics say the company is abandoning their initial audience and should have instead sought out payment processors that support adult content. Already though, an alternative for sex workers has emerged: American rapper Tyga revealed his new platform “Myystar” just days after the OnlyFans announcement. Applications are open to be among the first invited to his new sex-positive social media site.

Our Sources:

→ Initial coverage: Vice
→ Difficult VC landscape for adult content: Axios and Business Insider
→ OnlyFans’ funding goals: Bloomberg
→ Mastercards new rules for banks: Bloomberg
→ Shady history of OnlyFans’ billionaire owner: Forbes
→ OnlyFans creators struggle with bank refunds: Newsweek
→ Tyga’s new sex platform: Yahoo Life

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ASCII-ING ABOUT THE NEWS

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Last but not lease, we have rental protections in Virginia!



Art Credit: LG Beard

Below the Fold

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Below the Fold - Sex sells… but not for investors

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