There are No Girls on the Internet as a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative.

I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.

Mike, it is nice to have you back. How have you been?

I've been good.

It's been nice to be back.

You know, I really enjoyed Joey's episode last week, but it's nice to be back.

I agree.

So let's get into some of these news stories.

We have some updates and some new news around attempts to legislate the internet to make it safer for kids, in scare quotes, both here and around the world. Because rather than actually

keeping kids safe, lawmakers seem to be going all in on just bubble wrapping the internet instead,

in some cases with less than optimal results. So yesterday, a coalition of LGBTQ plus and sex worker

led organizations filed a complaint urging the Federal Trade Commission to open an investigation into MasterCard's adult content policy, alleging that it constitutes an unfair business practice.

So basically what's going on is that back in 2021, MasterCard put a new policy in place for websites that host adult content

like OnlyFans that use MasterCard payment options. The policy requires these websites to jump through

kind of a lot of hoops, like getting pre-approval for all content before publication,

forbidding certain search terms, and keeping record of age and identity

verification of all performers. Now, the ACLU says that this policy restricts free speech

and harms the livelihood of sex workers, especially black, immigrant, and trans sex workers,

while also just failing to make those content platforms any safer. When the policy was first put in place back in 2021,

researcher Valerie Weber surveyed 117 sex workers

about how MasterCard's adult content policy was impacting their work.

Now, according to the queer news outlet, them,

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