We know where to find porn. There are more websites dedicated to giving people their skin fix than there are sites dedicated to curing cancer, solving political issues, or educating children. Why, then, does porn continue to pop up on so many apps and just about every user-generated content site?
Vine, Twitter’s new 6-second video app, had major porn problems within hours of launch. 500px photography app had to settle for a 17+ rating on the app store over porn. Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Ning – they’ve all had their share of porn issues that keep popping up despite desperate measures taken to stop them.
If we can find porn so easily, why must it be shoved in our faces when we’re not looking for it or when we least expect?
There are many reasons. For some, it’s a matter of profits. They feel if they can get their images with their website branded on them (in some cases, covering up the juicy parts with the logo to lure people in to see more), that people will search them out. It has been more lucrative in the past but it’s still a valid technique, particularly with the ever-increasing number of teens and young adults entering “porn hunting” age every year. It’s like fresh meat.
For others, it’s much more about mayhem and chaos than anything else. As Alfred said in The Dark Knight, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
The internet offers a semi-anonymous way to expose others to the bad elements of the world. The real world offers risks when carrying out “bad deeds” that the internet allows. It is not against the law to post legal porn on websites, so the worst that can happen to someone is that their account gets banned. Even then, there are simply too many ways to build to new accounts without detection to ever be able to stop them from spreading it.
One reason that has been popping up more often is the “internet rights” crowd and their desire to make sure that there is not only access to everything online, but that it’s everywhere. There is a multitude of motives within the ranks of these semi-organized groups. For some, it’s simple freedom of speech. For others, it’s a desire to overrun the internet to the point the only recourse is to accept that it’s all out there and to tread lightly if you oppose while walking boldly if you approve.
For UGC website builders and app developers, they have to go in with the understanding that there will be porn. Keeping it off their websites and apps requires a diligence that many don’t expect to need. Those who would spread it will do so regardless of the format. The only way to fight it is to know going in that there will need to be an investment made into finding and filtering it. Otherwise, they have to realize that it is going to be on their website or app regardless of how they word their terms of service.
Threats don’t work. The only way to fight it is to make it too frustrating for the posters to keep up with the filters. In that case and that case alone, they’ll move on to easier prey.
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