Where should lawmakers, platforms, and civil society draw the line between harmful sexual content that involves real victims, and personal expression such as fiction, artwork, roleplay, and LGBTQ+ self-expression?
This question has become increasingly urgent as governments and platforms respond to concerns about online sexual harms, child safety, deepfakes, and AI-generated content. Too often, these debates collapse very different categories of content into a single moral and legal category. The result can be a framework that fails survivors of real abuse, while also threatening privacy, artistic freedom, sexual expression, and marginalized communities.
The Drawing the Line Principles are a global effort to respond to this tension by clearly differentiating lawful expression from harmful abuse in digital spaces. Join Jeremy Malcolm, chair of the Center for Online Safety and Liberty, along with Emma Shapiro who is Editor in Chief of Don’t Delete Art, Mish Pony from Australia’s Scarlet Alliance, Shambhawi Paudel from ILGA Asia, and Spanish lawyer/activist Mar Diez, as they unpack the urgent need to reframe online safety policies.
They explore how broad regulations—and automated content moderation—often punish artists, LGBTQ+ communities, and sex workers, silencing vital cultural expression and personal identities. You’ll discover how conflating fictional art with real abuse diverts resources from genuine victims and hampers artistic and social progress.
We break down the core principles: expression is not abuse; creative and cultural expression must be protected; survivor autonomy matters; safety policies must be evidence-based; digital due process is crucial; and impact on marginalized communities must be carefully evaluated. These principles are designed to ensure that digital spaces are safe, rights-respecting, and inclusive.
Timestamps:
- 00:00 – Welcome and overview of the Drawing the Line Principles
- 01:29 – Context and importance of distinguishing expression from harm
- 04:13 – Harms in content enforcement: diversion of resources in the UK
- 05:11 – Australian legal issues involving age play and content classification
- 06:10 – Legal and ethical distinctions in CSAM and synthetic content
- 07:07 – Existing tools for content moderation and survivor-centered approaches
- 08:05 – Emma Shapiro introduces the six principles for rights-respecting content moderation
- 09:36 – Protecting lawful sexual expression from broad restrictions
- 11:24 – The importance of creative and cultural expression in a democratic society
- 13:11 – Respecting survivor autonomy in content policies
- 14:39 – Evidence-based safety and prevention practices
- 15:37 – Due process and transparency in moderation decisions
- 16:33 – Impact of content policies on marginalized groups
- 18:01 – About Emma Shapiro’s work with artists and censorship issues
- 20:24 – Challenges faced by visual artists and online censorship
- 22:44 – Mish Pony discusses current legal and political pressures in Australia
- 32:29 – Shambhawi Paudel highlights regional legal and political contexts
- 42:31 – Mar Diaz explores AI regulation, platform accountability, and legal frameworks
- 50:21 – Enforcing existing laws while balancing privacy and free expression
- 51:43 – The importance of targeted enforcement against genuine harm
- 52:29 – Measuring platform accountability: transparency, algorithms, and community impact
- 56:33 – Platform influence on local laws and political leverage
- 58:33 – Audience question on the escalation hypothesis and regulation myths
- 60:18 – Debates over problematic fiction and moral panics
- 62:10 – Inconsistent application of content restrictions
- 63:18 – Closing remarks and next steps for advocacy and research