Sex Work and Online Platforms: What Should Regulation Do?

PurposeThe purpose is to assess the impact of online platforms on the sex industry, focusing specifically on direct sex work, and evaluate what approaches to platform regulation is likely to align with the interests of sex workers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a review of interdisciplinary conceptual and empirical literature on sex work combined with analysis of key issues using a transaction cost framework.FindingsOnline platforms generally make sex work safer. Regulation aimed at preventing platforms from serving sex workers is likely to harm their welfare.Research limitations/implicationsRegulation of online platforms should take great care to differentiate coercive sex from consensual sex work, and allow sex workers to experiment with governance mechanisms provided by entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates how a transactions costs approach to market behaviour as applied to personal services like ridesharing can also shed light on the challenges that sex workers face, partly as a result of criminalisation, and the dangers of over-regulation.