The politics of algorithmic rank systems in the Brazilian erotic webcam industry

ABSTRACT

This article examines the structuring of algorithmic rank systems in the Brazilian webcam industry. The article questions the criteria behind those automated systems and their impacts on the working conditions of performers. The research comprises a four-year digital ethnography (from 2016 to 2020) of Brazil’s two major webcamming platforms, Camera Hot and Camera Prive. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with cisgender women performers. The results reveal that rankings rely on axes of difference, centrally gender, race and age, foregrounding young white cisgender women. The unequal distribution of visibility affects the work conditions of the performers who do not fit platforms’ patterns, pressing them to negotiate with ranking criteria to succeed on camming. As the Brazilian camming business promotes the homogenization of services and prices, ranking stratifications hamper performers’ opportunities to engage and thrive on platforms. The research argues that inequalities imposed by rankings are already seen in the Brazilian sex trades.

KEYWORDS:

• Adult webcam industry
• rank systems
• algorithms
• axes of difference

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Marko Monteiro and Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science and Technology (GEICT) members for their helpful assistance throughout the research and to Thales Lelo and the reviewers for their valuable guidance and feedback. The author also thanks all interviewees for taking the time to engage in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The research was submitted to the National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP) through Plataforma Brasil, authorized in February 2017 (CAAE number 59900016.0.0000.5404).

2 In Portuguese, the word ‘favourite’ undergoes gender inflexion, and CH employs the female inflexion in its tab (favoritas).

3 In English, all of these words correspond to black. In Portuguese, there are inflexions of gender, which was considered in the search.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the CAPES foundation [grant 88882.461722/2016-01].