A resurfaced video of Former Twitch ASMR streamer Saveaprincess has got her banned for inappropriate “ear-licking ASMR” content. Now, twitch users have been pushing the tag and meta on what content is allowed in its terms of service and what’s not and from hot tub debates to same tags getting comfortable with people farting in microphones, Twitch is a Battleground for what steps over the threshold of what is inappropriate content and what can fly under the radar. However, with a platform with 41% of its users between 16-24, this not including people who lie about their age, there is a demographic of kids who COULD be exposed to content like this. With YouTube already under eyes for its loose regulation on children’s content, Twitch is following close behind in terms of being scrutinized by the content that is allowed on its site.

Throughout this ongoing conversation on what should and shouldn’t be allowed on Twitch, there hasn’t been much conversation on the implications that regulations and bans have on sex workers. Whether you want to call ear licking asmr sex work or not, many people within the field of erotic work make much of their money off of internet interaction. Most arguments call for completely erasing this group of people without thinking about 1.) How much that business makes and 2.) all of the stakeholders involved. Around 2016, in an attempt to address paedophilia accusations on its site, Tumblr made a immense ban on all erotic or perceived erotic content. However, the programming for it was awful, not being able to distinguish between art and actual eroticism and completely alienating a large market, losing a chunk of subscribers in the process.

The reality of it is that when we have these conversations on regulation of inappropriate content that could reach children, we can’t forget about the other side of conversation. The erotic content business is huge, many more people interact with it than is honestly believed, and erotic workers deserve to be able to work and make money to survive. There needs to be better regulatory policies that limit children’s access to internet interaction with inappropriate content and proper enforcement of areas for children to navigate in online if we are this disturbed about the content that will reach them. The internet is a complicated place and primarily a place for adults and experienced users. Children are generally not prepared for the power the internet has, so it is up to parents, educators, and companies to teach children proper internet etiquette. Its not fair for companies to ban people, while really doing nothing about the problem and profiting of it. Its also not fair for people to go on moral crusades and hard criticisms of people who create erotic content without knowing more about the other side.

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In recent news, Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Whatsapp, and other popular social media platforms has threatened to remove its content from Europe due to scrutiny and increased legal activity revolving the data that Facebook and the Meta corporation as a whole obtain from users. The reason for this threat comes from the Schrems II decision made by the EU’s Court of Justice back in 2020. However, this case goes back a decade before that when Maximillion Schrems, an Austrian Attorney had requested all the data Facebook had collected on him and received over 1000s of pages of information. With the EU ready to take a stand against Meta’s violation of security, Meta came back with a full report discussing how legislation against data collection affects their business model, citing a recent fine over data intrusion on minors and how such a punishment is an attack on their business model. They also cited a similar threat to U.S. congress members who wish to apply more regulation in the Telecommunications industry.

Across the board, there has been a call for higher regulation within the telecommunications field. We’ve been working with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and small regulations within the FTC and the FCC in order to keep up with the changing technological atmosphere, but it’s not enough. Now, here comes one of the Telecommunications industries biggest players making threats to politicians that want to create legislation that is in line with this evolving business. This is so telling, especially with how Meta had previously claimed it was all for regulation, while also being upset that they can’t use minors for money, anymore. When the business model and profit becomes more important than proper regulation and security, you know a company has grown to powerful. I say let Facebook remove it’s platform from places. If its willing to lose an entire geographic market because of shady practices, I say let them pay the price for that. They have shown that they are willing to play dirty and throw threats against the right to privacy for the sake of their bottom line. Facebook has become a dangerous app to be apart of and its removal might be seen as a win in the fight for better telecommunications legislation.

Source: https://www.mediaite.com/tech/metas-latest-sec-filing-contains-a-threat-to-pull-facebook-and-instagram-from-europe-if-they-cant-keep-targeting-ads/

Neil Young has been in the spotlight as of recently due to his request to have his music stripped from Spotify due to misinformation on the Covid-19 vaccine coming from one of its most popular podcasters, Joe Rogan. Although Spotify was willing to remove the music with no problem, after a spur of famous allies joined his side and Spotify’s market cap fell by almost 2 billion dollars, the company decided to put out some new rules on fake news. However, Neil Young has been giving Spotify the business for a long time.

As a classic musician, Young’s biggest issue with Spotify has always been its shoddy audio quality. Most music used to be recorded in analog and although there was less compartmentalization and a smaller library, the sound quality was spectacular in comparison to the digitally recorded music we have now. Neil Young had developed  Pono, a music service that was dedicated to giving back the rich studio sound of a music recording by focussing on uncompressed digital audio. Although the company fell under, Neil Young and Amazon Music have had a fruitful relationship expanding on his dream of returning to high-quality music formats.

The unfortunate truth when it comes to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music is that so much of the original music file losses data because they use Lossy compression techniques that delete much of the content of the files in order for consumers to more conveniently access it. Spotify is also guilty of other music crimes such as how much it pays its artists per stream and the type of mining going on in that site that make them a good chunk of its money while leaving underground artists in the dust. Neil Young was right to leave when he did.

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Neil Young – Wikipedia

Pono (digital music service) – Wikipedia

Neil Young quit Spotify because of Joe Rogan. These artists followed his lead (yahoo.com)

The Dark Side Of Spotify – YouTube

With the filing of several different trademarks for virtual e-commerce, its own currency and NFT ventures, Walmart becomes another trailblazer company scrambling to fully immerse itself online. After Facebook’s rebrand to Meta, companies are being signaled to push their capital heavily into the technological market. Nike has also been working to move its properties online by buying already established sneaker e-commerce companies and work with gaming platform Roblox to create the online world of “Nikeland.” NFTs are being used by big known fashion brands for authnetication of it’s luxury status. Retailers are finally realizing that to stay relevant and help with company growth, they must be ready to experiment with the new ways of advertisements and selling that are being developed on the internet.

CNBC’s Melissa Repko notes that Frank Chapparo, director of the cryptocurrency information service firm, The Block, has speculated that this sudden desire for companies to join Facebook in its Meta crusade comes from regret of missing out on the initial successes of the e-commerce business. Big players like Amazon already have a strong head start in the world of IST and retail. Although Facebook’s rebranding could be considered a fallout against the recent accusations of ill moral practices, especially against children, Mark Zuckerberg has always known how to lead the company on the verge of a profitable breakthrough. The idea to create an internet as fully immersive and interactive as possible is an investment that many late-movers into the online retail industry could need and are ready to take advantage of.

Source: https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/01/16/walmart-is-quietly-preparing-to-enter-the-metaverse.html?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#aoh=16423820147840&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2022%2F01%2F16%2Fwalmart-is-quietly-preparing-to-enter-the-metaverse.html