I am a citizen of the USA and can only give a perspective based on US law.
Some of the info in regards to the websites mentioned may be abridged.
Content Warning: Lolicon, Shotacon, Cub, References to CSAM, "Simulated" CSAM, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Incest, Mentions of Underage Sexuality in Fiction, Mentions of Bestiality, Abuse, Lolita (the novel: it is specifically is mentioned in one site's TOS!), Pornography, Fictional Content
All websites sport a Terms of Service. It’s a guideline as to what is and what is not allowed on a website. The TOS is a legal document of disclaimers, rules, and anything else that needs to be brought up to legally protect the site, and prevent unwanted content from being posted. It will often cover prohibited content, spam, and third-party content and links to outside sites. This allows them to legally punish (ban) users for breaking these rules, as well as come out clean if a user hosts something illegal on the site (which FOSTA/SESTA threaten).
Without further adue… some wild TOS’s.
Toyhou.se
We do not host pornographic content involving characters described to be under 18 or described as resembling a person under the age of 18 (or equivalent age of maturity in non-human species).
To be clear: Pornographic content covers any content which an average person would reasonably believe was created for the purpose of sexual gratification (this includes "sex profiles" which list a character's genitalia measurements and kinks, as these only exist for the purpose of future sexual content or contact). If you want to include sexual experiences in an underage character's history for the purposes of telling a story or developing a character, you can do so as long as it's respectfully communicated, not pornographic, and is not otherwise fetishised or inappropriately detailed.
Do not offer or advertise pornography of underage characters on site, whether it is existing content or a service. This includes offering loli/shota/cub pornography in your commissions, putting underage characters up for sale or trade with descriptions like "additional porn available upon request", linking off-site to services in which you offer this content, or making underage characters available for sexual RP.
Artists who self-identify or market themselves prominently as a loli/shota/cub artist (even off-site), may have their account closed to prevent the distribution of content of this nature even if they have not uploaded explicit content on-site. If you are on site to share pornographic content of children, or meet other people who want to share pornographic content of children, rather than trying to get around this rule by uploading characters with unlisted ages or cropped images, we would urge you to find a different place to host your work. This is not content that we host or want to see a community for on site.
Alright, there’s quite a bit to unpack here.
We do not host pornographic content involving characters described to be under 18 or described as resembling a person under the age of 18 (or equivalent age of maturity in non-human species).
So don’t describe a character as looking youthful? A character who is over the age of twenty cannot be petite, or look like you, if you happen to get mistaken for a teen often. AFAB people must have large tits and wide hips to prove they are, in fact, an adult. Never mind teenagers who develop those identifiers early on.
If you want to include sexual experiences in an underage character's history for the purposes of telling a story or developing a character, you can do so as long as it's respectfully communicated, not pornographic, and is not otherwise fetishised or inappropriately detailed.
“Don’t worry, we KNOW when we see fetishy content… wait, fetish means what? Oh, shit--”
But for real: allow it or don’t. “You can break rules if we deem it to be part of the story” is subjective, naive, and downright asinine. Where do you draw the line with it? Is there a line to be drawn at all?
Do not offer or advertise pornography of underage characters on site, whether it is existing content or a service. This includes offering loli/shota/cub pornography in your commissions, putting underage characters up for sale or trade with descriptions like "additional porn available upon request", linking off-site to services in which you offer this content, or making underage characters available for sexual RP.
This rule isn’t that bad. No linking off-site to shota/loli/cub? Okay, that’s fine. This is hosted in Australia, so sure, that's doable--
Artists who self-identify or market themselves prominently as a loli/shota/cub artist (even off-site), may have their account closed to prevent the distribution of content of this nature even if they have not uploaded explicit content on-site.
Woah woah woah. What? So if moderators “find out” you post “problematique” stuff on another site, where it is legal in that country or not, you’ll be banned here? What if I did something in America that was breaking the law in England? Will I be banned going to from England, or sent to jail when I arrive?
If you are on site to share pornographic content of children, or meet other people who want to share pornographic content of children… we would urge you to find a different place to host your work. This is not content that we host or want to see a community for on site.
Cubs are children? They aren't even human, nor could they be mistaken for human.
...Rather than trying to get around this rule by uploading characters with unlisted ages or cropped images…
So is any character that looks young or petite, with no listed age is viable for account deletion? So what if you have “adult” listed as the age, but the character is a twink? Do body types not exist or matter? The cropped image thing is fine, at least that one is understandable.
I’ve said this to others before, but the whole thing feels Big Brother-y. Breaking TOS off-site should not be terms for deletion anywhere. It’s also insulting to countries with different laws. People minding their own business, following your TOS on site, should be left well alone. This sort of thing is just asking for trouble.
DeviantArt
For media or posts other than photography, where a fictional character under the age of eighteen (18) is depicted in one of the above described themes, the content can also be subjected to deletion by DeviantArt staff and your profile remains eligible to receive disciplinary action up to and including termination of your account.
In regards to fan art, DeviantArt recognizes that the fan community creates a large and vibrant portion of the content submitted to the galleries, but in regards to the policies outlined in this article, please be aware that many of the most popular fictional characters are depicted in their original context as being minors under the age of eighteen (18).
While fan art inspired from various sources is not automatically excluded from including the themes discussed in this article, please be aware that fictional characters which are primarily depicted as being minors in their original context are considered under DeviantArt policy to be disqualified from being featured in any explicit nude, erotic, or sexually provocative manner or in any portrayal of a sexual fetish and will be held to the same restrictions as photographic content featuring real children. Posting such content can result in the material being deleted by the DeviantArt staff and disciplinary action may be taken against your profile, up to and including the termination of your account.
"We will treat drawings as real life CSAM." This will be interesting, as staff would have to file a report to the FBI (or applicable entity), who have publicly asked people to stop sending them drawings.
For media or posts other than photography, where a fictional character under the age of eighteen (18) is depicted in one of the above described themes, the content can also be subjected to deletion by DeviantArt staff and your profile remains eligible to receive disciplinary action up to and including termination of your account.
Why?
...Fictional characters which are primarily depicted as being minors in their original context are considered under DeviantArt policy to be disqualified from being featured in any explicit nude, erotic, or sexually provocative manner or in any portrayal of a sexual fetish…
Does anyone know what the word “fetish” means? Here, let me give you a recap:
A form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc.
Anything can be a fetish. Kid with shoes off? Fetish. Kid with arm up and visible armpit? Fetish. Sneezing? F E T I S H. A fetish is not inherently sexual.
On THAT note, what if one draws Ed, Edd, n Eddy in an inflation picture? That’s canon to the show. It’s also a fetish.
RefSheet
Refsheet.net reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to censor, filter and/or remove any content which promotes a harmful or unwelcome environment for other users. This includes, but is not limited to, images, text, or other media which:
…
displays or suggests sexual or explicit content with characters or persons who are not legally, or (in the event of a fictional character) canonically over the age of consent, defined in current governing law as 18 years of age.
displays or suggests sexual activity with any non-fictional animal or otherwise promotes bestiality. This does not include fictional works which depicts consensual sexual activity involving animal or other non-human species, or any costume or disguise which may give the appearance of an animal.
…
TL;DR: We can remove content. Don't post Nazi things, don't post hate speech, say no to underage porn, and please don't abuse animals.
This is one of those “to vague and oddly worded” issues.
...Displays or suggests sexual activity with any non-fictional animal or otherwise promotes bestiality. This does not include fictional works which depicts consensual sexual activity involving animal or other non-human species…
Consensual? So consenting bestiality is fine? And if sex involving a “non-human species” is bestiality, can we not fuck an alien? Is Garrus Vikarian off limits? What does this mean? Can animals consent? I think that's a completely separate conversation.
...Say no to underage porn...
I just don’t like the way the TL;DR segments are worded. They feel unprofessional and weird. That might just be me, though.
PillowFort
Disclaimer: PF banned a user before their new TOS came into effect (which banned loli/shota content). They did reinstate their account, but the action wouldn’t soon be forgotten. The same user later made their username 2800 bees.
(You are still allowed to have usernames up to fifty (50) characters in length.)
And, if course, this excerpt is from their tumblr update.
As of this statement, Pillowfort will not allow explicit visual art of characters that appear to be underage. Now, due to the inherently subjective nature of trying to determine the age of a fictional character in a stylized medium, the “gray area” cases will be up to the discretion of the moderator reviewing the content. Broadly, if your characters are close to 18 and could plausibly or arguably be of age based on appearance, that will be allowed. We are not going to comb through the wiki of a particular fandom to try and find the canonical age of a fictional character and then try to figure out if the character in the art piece is supposed to be represented at their canonical age or not. Similarly, many works of art contain sexual activity as a theme of adolescence and coming-of-age– I’m sure you yourself can think of many movies, shows, etc. you’ve seen that featured underage characters in a sexual relationship, some even explicitly– and even if you wanted to argue that art that explored adolescent sexuality was fine and it’s ‘just pornography’ that should be censured, we aren’t going to be the arbiters of what is art vs. ‘merely’ pornography. Therefore, sexual depictions of characters in later stages of adolescence may broadly be considered ‘safe.’
However, any explicit or sexual art of a character that appears to be physically pre-pubescent or barely pubescent (i.e. not plausibly or arguably of age, or even close to it) will be prohibited. We realize this decision may anger some people, but we have devoted a considerable amount of thought to this decision and we feel this is the best approach for our community.
Importantly, we don’t want people to worry that this heralds a broader ban on ‘problematic’ content. When it comes to fictional depictions or descriptions of divisive subjects such as incest, rape, abuse, etc., we do not intend to restrict that content, for largely the same reasons as discussed above with regards to ‘gray-area’ underage content. We understand these subjects can be distressing for many, and we do request that people posting content that is potentially upsetting tag such posts with the relevant terms so that it can be avoided by those who don’t wish to view such content. The only situation we foresee penalizing the posting of this content would be a case already covered in our ToS, where a bad-faith user appears to be intentionally spamming completely unrelated tags or communities with violent or sexual content with the intent or result of disrupting the usual functioning of that tag or community.
Next to Toyhou.se, this is one of the worst TOS I’ve ever had to look at.
Now, due to the inherently subjective nature of trying to determine the age of a fictional character in a stylized medium, the “gray area” case will be up to the discretion of the moderator reviewing the content. Broadly, if your characters are close to 18 and could plausibly or arguably be of age based on appearance, that will be allowed.
“We’ll know it when we see it," and "Underage pornography is allowed, sometimes."
We are not going to comb through the wiki of a particular fandom to try and find the canonical age of a fictional character and then try to figure out if the character in the art piece is supposed to be represented at their canonical age or not.
“We don’t really care that much, we’ll know it when we see it. And if we’re wrong, well, it looked underage so too bad.”
Similarly, many works of art contain sexual activity as a theme of adolescence and coming-of-age… and even if you wanted to argue that art that explored adolescent sexuality was fine and it’s ‘just pornography’ that should be censured, we aren’t going to be the arbiters of what is art vs. ‘merely’ pornography. Therefore, sexual depictions of characters in later stages of adolescence may broadly be considered ‘safe.’
So porn of kids is fine. But it’s not. But it is, kind of. “We’ll know it when we see it.”
...We don’t want people to worry that this heralds a broader ban on ‘problematic’ content. When it comes to fictional depictions or descriptions of divisive subjects such as incest, rape, abuse, etc., we do not intend to restrict that content, for largely the same reasons as discussed above with regards to ‘gray-area’ underage content.
“When someone yells at us about the gray-area in the future, we’ll remove it. Right now it’s, uh, safe?”
E-Hentai
Disclaimer for this one: they don’t really want to censor content, but don’t have a choice. They can’t make money without a rule about it.
You may NOT:
- Post any kind of material that contains or depicts people who are or appear to be underage (even if they are borderline), nor galleries that claim to contain this kind of content (using keywords like "lolita", "preteen", "incest", "lolicon" or derivatives, even if they do not contain this). This includes drawings and underage "models" who do not engage in actual sexual activity, as well as normal photos involving children. ANY KIND OF ILLICIT ACTIVITY INVOLVING CHILDREN WILL BE REPORTED ALONG WITH A FULL TRACE OF ALL YOUR ACTIVITY ON THIS SITE.
- Post photograpic material of real people that can be considered "obscene". This includes extreme BDSM, bestiality, scat, and other stuff that is way "out there". This isn't where to come for that stuff, please go away.
…
- ANY KIND OF MATERIAL INVOLVING CHILDREN IS ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT PORNOGRAPHIC OR RISQUE IN NATURE, AND EVEN IF THEY CONTAIN NO NUDITY NOR POSES WITH SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS. JUST A SINGLE VIOLATION OF THIS RULE WILL CAUSE YOUR ACCOUNT TO BE PERMANENTLY BANNED, AND IF THE MATERIAL IS ILLICIT, YOUR DETAILS TO BE HANDED OVER TO THE AUTHORITIES IN YOUR JURISDICTION.
Oh boy oh boy. It would be strange to hand over the details of someone who has not committed a crime in their jurisdiction (and, again, in places where the authorities have warned against sending drawn or written content which does not involve a real, identifiable minor, or is not photo-realistic.
Post any kind of material that contains people who are or appear to be underage (using keywords like "lolita", "preteen", "incest", "lolicon" or derivatives, even if they do not contain this).
“Incest” is synonymous with “underage” now? Is… is that a thing?
ANY KIND OF ILLICIT ACTIVITY INVOLVING CHILDREN WILL BE REPORTED ALONG WITH A FULL TRACE OF ALL YOUR ACTIVITY ON THIS SITE.
The FBI sure is getting tired of these false CSAM alerts. I think you can get fined for wasting their time.
Post photograpic material of real people that can be considered "obscene". This includes extreme BDSM, bestiality, scat, and other stuff that is way "out there". This isn't where to come for that stuff, please go away.
Photographic? Okay, so only photos? Or is this not allowed in fictional artwork as well? Can you specify that? Also BDSM is apparently on the same level as bestiality and scat.
Oh, and unprofessional wording. “Please go away.” Please write professionally.
ANY KIND OF MATERIAL INVOLVING CHILDREN IS ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT PORNOGRAPHIC OR RISQUE IN NATURE…
“It’s not CSAM? To bad, it’s CSAM!” It's unclear as to why they feel the need to scream this rule. You not wanting underage art of any kind on your site is fine, but… calm down.
JUST A SINGLE VIOLATION OF THIS RULE WILL CAUSE YOUR ACCOUNT TO BE PERMANENTLY BANNED…
O...okay.
...AND IF THE MATERIAL IS ILLICIT, YOUR DETAILS TO BE HANDED OVER TO THE AUTHORITIES IN YOUR JURISDICTION.
(Americans and Japanese folk laughing.)
Patreon
A crowdfunding website for artists. Christian artists, apparently. They also fail to go through with moderation, and many loli and NSFW artists and camgirls are still hosting there. Do the rules matter or not?
We ask creators to flag themselves as Adult Content if they create any content that has mature themes such as sexuality or graphic violence. When you are flagged as Adult Content your page is removed from our search. We also require that all public content on your page be appropriate for all audiences. Content with mature themes must be marked as a patron-only post.
We have zero tolerance when it comes to the glorification of sexual violence which includes bestiality, rape, and child exploitation (i.e., sexualized depiction of minors). This is true for illustrated, animated, or any other type of content. Patreon reserves the right to review and remove accounts that may violate this guideline. As a reminder, you should never post or share nude content of any individual under the age of 18, including yourself. As a strong commitment to child safety, we will work with law enforcement whenever we come across child exploitation.
We also do not allow other fringe sexual fetish content, such as incest, necrophilia, or fetish content that is hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex.
We understand that some topics on this list such as incest or rape are a little bit more complicated because these situations are, unfortunately, part of real life. As a result, when reviewing this type of content, the Trust and Safety team will take into consideration context including personal, historical or educational narrative. For example, survivor stories or fiction such as Game of Thrones or Lolita are allowed on Patreon.
Lastly, you cannot sell pornographic material or arrange sexual service(s) as a reward for your patrons. We define pornographic material as real people engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation or sexual intercourse on camera. You can’t use Patreon to raise funds in order to produce pornographic material such as maintaining a website, funding the production of movies, or providing a private webcam session.
See? Christian.
We have zero tolerance when it comes to the glorification of sexual violence which includes bestiality, rape, and sexualized depiction of minors. This is true for illustrated, animated, or any other type of content.
These things are just as bad in fiction as they are in reality, apparently. Furries have no home here, BDSM creators have no home here… You realize how many people create this content to pay their bills, yeah? It makes sense, sadly, as they DO go through Paypal…
We also do not allow other fringe sexual fetish content, such as incest, necrophilia, or fetish content that is hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex.
Again, fuck the BDSM folk. Pseudo-rape? Oh don’t worry, “We’ll know it when we see it.” Also, can we have NSFW zombies/vampires/etc. or do those also count as necrophilia? I mean technically yes, but you could make the argument. Maybe specify these rules a little better?
Oh yeah, and fuck fetish content creators. Just, like, in general. Get off our good Christian server.
We understand that some topics on this list such as incest or rape are a little bit more complicated because these situations are, unfortunately, part of real life.
All of these things happen in real life. Incest, BDSM, necrophilia, sex, etc. All of them.
As a result, when reviewing this type of content, the Trust and Safety team will take into consideration context including personal, historical or educational narrative. For example, survivor stories or fiction such as Game of Thrones or Lolita are allowed on Patreon.
“Lolita is fine. But we’ll know “child exploitation” when we see it. So don’t post it. But Lolita is fine.”
Did you guys ever read that book? Heck, just watch the movie.
Lastly, you cannot sell pornographic material or arrange sexual service(s) as a reward for your patrons. You can’t use Patreon to raise funds in order to produce pornographic material such as maintaining a website, funding the production of movies, or providing a private webcam session.
First: Has anyone told the Baraag curator yet? They’re on there. Heck, do they care he’s on there?
CORRECTION: The Baraag creator is now on SubscribeStar. F-List, however, is still funded on Patreon as of writing.
Second: Sell your body somewhere else, skank! In all seriousness, disallowing real-life pornography and camming would not, inherently, be bad. However, these rules have been updated well after many users had begun using Patreon for this purpose. When the rug was pulled out from under them, they were quickly discriminated against and displaced.
ArtAlley.Porn
So this one isn’t about the TOS itself, actually. An artist recently had their (SFW) art removed because “the characters appeared underage.” So if you were wondering if this would be a safe place for you: it won’t be. Here’s the current info on that.
LiveJournal
I will not get into the TOS of LJ. Instead, I’m going to outline (in an incredibly basic manner) Russian law:
It’s illegal to be LGBT+
It’s illegal to create pornographic content (but legal to consume it)
FanFiction.Net
Again, we don’t need to get to into this one.
Please note FanFiction does not accept explicit content, Fiction Rating: MA, and the rating is only presented for reference.
They then present us with a key which includes the rating of MA (Mature Adult). “Contains explicit content for mature adults only.” This is completely worthless, since no, that content is not allowed on site. At all.
Poorly-worded and vague TOS allow for moderator abuse and favoritism. It allows for content to fall into a “grey area” or an “unknown area” as to whether it is allowed or not. These things are bad. If one wants to disallow something on their site, state that plainly. Beating around the bush also allows for loopholes to be exploited.
Please always be aware of the TOS of the site you’re using, and be wary of vague rules.
To citizens of the USA: no fictional content you produce is illegal, unless it depicts/references a real, actual child, or is indistinguishable from a real child (photo-realism).
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