This special issue brings together six research articles that speak to the dynamics of digital communication in the Philippines, a country firmly located in the global geography of the digital economy and an early adopter and innovator in mobile communication. Consequently, there has been a convergence of domestic and transnational platforms, which we argue showcases the vitality and creativity of Chinese non-normative media production and consumption in a globalized and platformized age. We suggest that Chinese queer sex influencers’ monetization practices not only construct vibrant sexual cultures, but also incentivize heightened cross-platform mobility, which serves as a strategy for coping with China’s precarious legal environment. Drawing on in-depth interviews with fourteen queer male “sex influencers”-people who capitalize on their erotic practices on Twitter and other platforms for economic and social perks-and a three-month digital ethnography, we probe how Twitter shapes sex media production in China and opens up multifarious modes of monetization. This study can be used as a baseline for future research on the community.īy attending to the case of queer men’s sexual use of Twitter in China, this article analyzes how mainstream platforms provide underrepresented groups with unique opportunities in the erotic economy.
In response to the commodification, some members pushed back by releasing the supposed exclusive-access products into the open, for free or for a reduced price, which the creators actively halt using their influence. Some creators also venture into selling other sex-related goods and services. To combat this, creators cope by collaborating with other creators or offering discounts to their patrons. Another finding in the study is that due to the increase in the number of creators in the community, demand for these exclusive-access videos used by them appears to be declining. The study showed that the commodification of sexual content was made possible by various gatekeeping mechanisms such as third-party subscription-based websites such as OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans, exclusive-access private Twitter accounts, password-protected online file repositories like Google Drive, among others. Using virtual ethnography as a research method, the alter community was studied, with a particular focus on the changes brought about by the phenomenon. However, it has been observed that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in exclusive-access videos offered for a fee which points to a phenomenon referred to in this paper as commodification.
They thrive on using anonymous "alter" accounts in the social networking site Twitter where members upload these pornographic materials for direct access by its members, often without a fee. The alter community is a virtual collection of mostly gay individuals who mutually benefit from the production and consumption of free-access amateur pornographic photos and videos.