Beyond the Filter: Sexual Content Online: Who Gets Protected and Who Gets Policed?

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of censorship and platform policies on sexual content and LGBTQ+ communities in Europe and Asia.

In the season finale of  Beyond the Filter , Jeremy and Brandy are joined by Shambhawi Paudel (ILGA Asia) and Mar Díaz (digital rights and LGBTQ advocate) for a wide-ranging conversation on censorship, platform power, and queer expression across Europe and Asia. From colonial-era morality laws and online entrapment in parts of Asia to shadowbanning, algorithmic bias, and the limits of the EU’s Digital Services Act, the episode explores how governments and platforms alike are reshaping digital space in the name of “safety.” The guests examine why sex workers and LGBTQ+ communities are often first and hardest hit by over-moderation, how fictional and AI-generated content is being swept into expanding criminal frameworks, and whether privacy and human rights law offer better tools to address real harms like deepfake abuse. As a preview of two upcoming RightsCon workshops, the conversation asks a central question: how do we protect people online without collapsing the line between personal expression and lived abuse? Resources mentioned during this episode Drawing the Line Watchlist 2025 – A research report covering 10 countries that reveals how the conflation of personal…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeremy, Brandy

Guests: Shambhawi Paudel, Mar Díaz

Topics covered

• censorship
• platform power
• queer expression
• digital rights
• LGBTQ+ communities
• over-moderation
• privacy
• human rights

Keywords

• Digital Services Act
• algorithmic bias
• deepfake abuse
• RightsCon

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Beyond the Filter: Sexual Content Online: Who, Beyond the Filter, Drawing the Line Watchlist 2025, Beyond the Filter: Sexual Content Online: Who Gets Protected

Places: Europe, Asia

More episodes of Beyond the Filter

• Beyond the Filter: Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence · February 1, 2026
• Beyond the Filter: Australia’s Under 16 Social Media Ban · January 1, 2026
• Beyond the Filter: Drawing the Line Watchlist · December 10, 2025
• Beyond the Filter: Fantasy Sexual Materials and Offending · November 1, 2025 · 43 min
• Beyond the Filter: The Assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Censorship of Jimmy Kimmel · October 1, 2025 · 33 min
• Beyond the Filter: Age Verification, Payments, Porn, and Censorship · September 1, 2025 · 51 min