Privacy watchdog is investigating sex worker review site for safety concerns

Sex workers feel threatened in their safety. This is due to websites such as GirlsReview and Hookers.nl where customers post "reviews" and share their experiences with the sex workers in question. However, the review platform is increasingly being misused to share sex workers' private data and spread falsehoods that have a lasting impact on sex workers' safety, NOS reported.

To draw attention to the problem, dozens of sex workers have raised the alarm at state-subsidized support centers such as the Complaints Desk for sex workers and Ugly Mugs. As the case also involves a breach of data protection, the Authority for Personal Data (AP) has also intervened after dozens of complaints and is now launching an investigation.

According to five sex workers that NOS spoke to, the GirlsReview platform poses a major security risk. This is because customers could share the location and new aliases of sex workers on the website and exchange information about who is located in which area at any given time.

Furthermore, the website also does not intervene when untruths are written and shared about the sex workers in question. For example, customers claim that it is safe to practice unprotected sex with certain sex workers or that they are "handled firmly". These sex workers are then confronted with men who demand such extremes and who become angry when they do not get their way. This would represent another significant safety risk.

According to Iris de Munnik of the Complaints Desk, these websites are exposing private data to the public which poses a great danger to the sex workers. In additoin, the sex workers have no control over removing the untruths. "The sex workers also have few options to have reviews removed if they contain things that are simply not correct," she told the broadcaster.

In addition, the information shared on GirlsReview, such as the names of sex workers, will not remain on the platform, but will also appear on the Google search page, as you don't even have to log in to the website, sex worker Helene Baayen explains. "GirlsReview is a completely different story," she said, "precisely because you don't necessarily have to log in to find personal information about women. This means that Google can quickly spit out all sorts of nasty things about you when people search for your name", she said in an interview with NOS.

In a response, GirlsReview.nl told the broadcaster that it "does not recognize itself at all in the image painted by these sex workers." According to the website's spokesperson, GirlsReview.nl is one of the most sex worker-friendly review platforms to date. Nevertheless, we will look into whether we can make the complaints procedure more clearly visible to stakeholders on the homepage. We invite the Complaints Desk to forward any complaints they receive to us to persevere," the spokesperson told NOS.