- Webcam models in Colombia have reported abusive, unhygienic working conditions, and coercion to perform nonconsensual sex acts while working in studios which stream content on adult viewing platforms around the world.
- Most had never seen or signed the terms of service of any platform where they streamed, exposing them to wage theft and exploitation by studios.
- Adult webcam platforms should take action to protect studio models and immediately address abuses in supply chains.
(New York, December 9, 2024) – Webcam models in Colombia report serious abuses by studios producing content for the billion-dollar adult webcam industry, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Models report unhygienic conditions, 18-hour shifts without breaks, and coercion to do sexual performances they find degrading, traumatizing, or physically painful.
The 175-page report, “‘I Learned How to Say No’: Labor Abuses & Sexual Exploitation in Colombian Webcam Studios,” exposes working conditions in webcam studios in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and Palmira, where models record content that is broadcasted by adult platforms and streamed around the world. Webcamming is a global industry in which studies estimate that platforms keep between 50 and 65 percent of what viewers pay. People interviewed said that studios retain as much as 70 percent of what is paid out by the platform, reducing the pay of workers. Adult webcam platforms based in the United States and Europe should immediately address labor abuses and sexual exploitation in Colombian webcam studios.
“Sex workers deserve the same labor protections as all workers under international human rights law, but the billion-dollar webcam industry has largely avoided scrutiny for abuses in its supply chains,” said Erin Kilbride, researcher at Human Rights Watch and report author. “Webcam platforms have a responsibility to identify, mitigate, and prevent human rights abuses by studios and should carry out reforms in line with international human rights responsibilities.”
In collaboration with sex worker rights organizations, La Liga de Salud Trans and Corporación Calle 7 Colombia, Human Rights Watch researchers spent 18 months investigating adult webcam studios in Colombia, including interviewing 55 sex workers with experience in the industry.
Workers report streaming from small, confined cubicles with a lack of ventilation, and bedbug and cockroach infestations. Some identify verbal, physical, and sexual abuse by studio management, and coercion to perform sex acts to which they did not consent. Labor conditions include wage theft, fines for taking breaks to eat and use the bathroom, and computer keyboards, mouses, and furniture covered in bodily fluids from other employees. Workers developed rashes and infections and had a lack of mental health support.
A 29-year-old transgender Bolivian woman who worked at a studio in Bogotá said that when she asked her manager to end a penetrative performance due to extreme pain, “[he] said if I stop, I will hurt the rating, so I had to keep going.” Another model told researchers of an experience in which they were terrified that a glass bottle they were pressured to insert inside themselves would break.
Most said they want to save money to buy their own equipment and stream from home where they could better control their hours and performances. Yet, models report studios often refuse to cede control of accounts, forcing models to start from scratch if they want to leave the studio.
While all those interviewed were adults, several report that studios enabled them to begin working as children and violated platforms’ age restrictions by “recycling” accounts that were registered to former adult models. Platforms should review, revise, or adopt robust and responsive processes to ensure that workers retain full ownership of their own accounts, to help prevent the circumvention of age restrictions that lead to children’s involvement in the industry.
Forty-nine of 50 models interviewed said they had neither seen nor signed the terms of service from any platform on which they streamed. Most said the studios created their account for them, which they believed included “accepting” the terms of service on their behalf. This left models without essential information to ensure they were paid fairly, and they could not make informed decisions about their work hours, breaks, and which client requests to accept. In some cases, this contributed to models experiencing wage theft, sexual coercion, and labor exploitation by studios.
Models said that studio managers use the threat of account bans or decreased traffic to put intense pressure on them to work long hours without food or water, and to perform sex acts they had not consented to.
Human Rights Watch reviewed platform policies from BongaCams, Chaturbate, LiveJasmin, and Stripchat, four of the webcam platforms commonly used by interviewees. Based on this review, these platforms may need more extensive human rights due diligence protocols to address risks related to occupational health, safety, sanitation, and working conditions in studios.
Human Rights Watch contacted the four platforms for comment. BongaCams, Chaturbate, and Stripchat provided policies and steps they take to identify and prevent human trafficking and child sexual abuse but denied responsibility for other labor abuses occurring at studios in their supply chains such as unhygienic conditions and denial of right to rest. Responses from BongaCams, Chaturbate, and Stripchat are annexed to the report. LiveJasmin declined to respond on the record.
All models interviewed said that they chose to work as webcammers and were not forced or coerced into doing so. At the same time, all report that they felt surprised, deceived, or misled about several conditions of their employment, including what they would be paid, sex acts they were expected to perform, or studio sanitation. For some, the inability to take their account with them, compounded by small amounts of debt they accrued at the studio store or while living in the studio, also made it more difficult to leave.
Human Rights Watch does not call for criminalizing the webcam industry or studios. Instead, researchers work with sex worker organizations and sex worker rights defenders to identify concrete steps that platforms, studios, and the government should take to address abuses and root out exploitation.
“Sexual exploitation is not inherent to webcam modeling, but our research indicates that the risk of exploitation in Colombian studios is extremely high,” Kilbride said. “Platforms have the power and responsibility to address abuses by studios. They need to review their policies and implement comprehensive standards for the studios with which they work, based on the expertise of sex workers themselves.”
