U.K. Lawmakers Push to Criminalize Camming, Calling It ‘E-pimping’

LONDON—A new report from a group of U.K. parliamentarians is calling for online camming platforms and the practice of “e-pimping” to be outlawed and criminalized, days after the country began enforcing a controversial ban on certain pornography categories that carries substantial financial and criminal penalties.

In a report titled “Only Exploitation,” members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sexual and Commercial Sexual Exploitation argue that the multibillion-dollar live camming industry should be prohibited in the United Kingdom, with activities associated with it made criminal offenses.

“The webcamming trade is a magnet for exploiters,” said Labor MP Tracy Gilbert, chair of the group and a co-author of the report.

“These e-pimps style themselves as legitimate ‘managers’ and agencies, yet they exert sexual coercion and control over the women they recruit and profit from,” Gilbert added.

The 40-page report, published through the group’s secretariat, U.K. Feminista, a nonprofit organization that opposes the commercial sex industry, mentions OnlyFans 50 times. OnlyFans is operated by Fenix International Limited, which is based in London’s Cheapside district. The report also identifies what it describes as “five main harms perpetrated against women and children via webcamming platforms.” These include sexual coercion, intimate image abuse, security and privacy risks, offline sexual exploitation and child sexual exploitation.

Gilbert said, “Webcamming platforms are a form of commercial sexual exploitation. The level of risk and severity of harms attached to their activities is unacceptable. We are urging the Government to confront online sex trafficking and sexual exploitation by outlawing e-pimping and preventing commercial online platforms from live-streaming pornography and prostitution.”

The report, co-authored by fellow Labor MP Tonia Antoniazzi, does not provide a definition of “e-pimping.” The term has no established definition under common law in either the United States or the United Kingdom and is not currently recognized as a criminal or civil offense. Nevertheless, the APPG authors have proposed several legislative changes that would establish new offenses.

Among the recommendations are defining e-pimping in national law and making it a criminal offense. The report also proposes criminal liability for online platforms that “enable or profit from commercial live streaming of pornography and prostitution.” Another recommendation calls for classifying e-pimping as a “human trafficking” offense.

“Law enforcement and organisations with designated regulatory powers and functions must be able to access all content hosted and streamed by pornography platforms for investigative and enforcement purposes,” states another recommendation. The report’s authors also propose that “enforcement against the distribution of illegal pornographic content, including via webcamming platforms, must be strengthened via improved monitoring, training and leadership.”

Alison Boden, a self-described feminist and executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, told AVN that she strongly objects to the report’s recommendations.

“This report is nothing more than an anti-porn activist group’s press release on parliamentary letterhead,” Boden said. “These self-proclaimed feminists don’t trust women to make their own choices; they don’t trust women to make their own decisions; so of course they didn’t include the voice of a single working [cam] performer.”

“Unfortunately, this blatant call for censorship can’t be ignored at a time when U.K. lawmakers seem determined to police everything adults see and do online,” Boden added.

Live camming is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable segments of online adult entertainment. It has also been identified in research as a potentially safer form of sex work compared with in-person arrangements.

A 2018 study, conducted by researchers at the University of Leicester in England found that online sex work, including camming, can offer safer working conditions than in-person meetings.

Millions of people worldwide work in online sex-related professions, with the United States and the United Kingdom among the largest consumer markets for camming