Rébecca Suzanne Franco
About
Rébecca Suzanne Franco is a researcher specializing in the regulation of intimacy and reproductive labour in the digital context, and how this creates material inequalities. Working in and outside of academia, she uses engaged research to inform and contribute to improving the regulation of digital intimacies and marginalized forms of gendered labour, such as sex work.Rébecca is currently leading the NWO Veni-funded project "Working the Platform: Migrant Women’ Domestic and Sex Work in the Digital Age” at Utrecht University, researching the living and working conditions of domestic workers and sex workers using digital platforms. She has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and obtained her PhD from the VU University in Amsterdam.Being interested in working with and learning from advocacy-oriented community organizations, Rébecca Franco has been a consultant in digital rights for the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA) and currently works for the Dutch Sekswerkers Alliantie Destigmatisering (SWAD) as consultant in policy participation.
Rebecca Franco is onderzoeker gespecialiseerd in de regulering van digitale intimiteiten en reproductief werk, zoals huishoudelijk werk en sekswerk. Zij doet onderzoek aan de Universiteit Utrecht naar de leef- en arbeidsomstandigheden van huishoudelijk werkers en sekswerkers die via online platformen werken. Eerder werkte zij als postdoctoraal onderzoeker aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam en promoveerde aan de VU Universiteit. Daarnaast werkt zij met belangenorganisaties, zoals de Nederlandse Sekswerkers Alliantie Destigmatisering (SWAD).
Research
My current research centers on gendered, reproductive work performed by migrant women, specifically domestic work (like cleaning) and sex work. I conduct the NWO (Dutch Research Council) Veni-funded project "Working the Platform: Migrant Women's Domestic and Sex Work in the Digital Age," at Utrecht University, compromising of a joint examination of sex work and domestic work to investigate how digital platforms interact with sector-specific policies and immigration governance to both enhance and deteriorate labor conditions for domestic and sex workers.Before joining Utrecht University, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, investigating the regulation of platformized sex work in the research project "The platformization of the global sex industry: Markets, morals, and mass intimacy". My work shows how the political economy of platform capitalism and moral politics intersect in shaping the working conditions of online sex workers. I particularly showcase how financial service providers shape platform governance, demonstrating that companies like Mastercard and Visa exercise disproportionate regulatory power over sexual content and sexual labour online.I completed my PhD at VU University, examining the historical regulation of radicalized intimacies and (post)colonial migration in France, resulting in a monograph entitled "Between Problematisation and Invisibilisation: The Regulation of Interracialised Intimacies and (Post)Colonial Migration in France." This historical work laid the foundation for my ongoing interest in how states and digital infrastructures regulate intimate relations and labour, particularly for marginalized populations.
Aan de Universiteit Utrecht werk ik aan mijn NWO Veni-gefinancierde project "Working the Platform", waarin ik onderzoek doe naar de werk- en leefomstandigheden van migrantenvrouwen die huishoudelijk werk of sekswerk doen. Ik kijk specifiek naar de rol van digitale platformen waar deze werkers via adverteren, en hoe deze kunnen worden verbeterd. Eerder deed ik als postdoctoraal onderzoeker aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam onderzoek naar de regulering van geplatformiseerd sekswerk, waarbij ik liet zien hoe financiële dienstverleners zoals Mastercard en Visa onevenredig veel regulerende macht uitoefenen over seksuele content en sekswerk online. Mijn proefschrift, geschreven aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, onderzocht de historische regulering van (post)koloniale migratie en intimiteiten in Frankrijk. werk dat de basis legde voor mijn huidige interesse in hoe intieme arbeid en het intieme leven van gemarginaliseerde groepen wordt gereguleerd.
A list of my publicationsPeer reviewed articles2026| Content moderation as workers’ management: sex, labour, platforms, Information, communication and society, Information, Communication & Society, doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2604666, Rébecca Franco and Hanne Stegeman.2025| “This is Fucking Nuts”: The Role of Payment Intermediaries in Structuring Precarity and Dependencies in Platformized Sex Work. Porn Studies. 1-18, doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2024.2393641, Rébecca Franco and Val Webber.2025| The Definitional Creep: Payment Processing and the Moral Ordering of Sexual Content. Sexualities. doi.org/10.1177/136346072413055, Val Webber and Rébecca Franco.2024| “Controlling the keys to the Golden City”: the payment ecosystem and the regulation of adult webcam and fan platforms. New Media & Society, doi.org/10.1177/14614448241303465, Rébecca Franco.2023| Policing Commercial Sex in 1970s France: Regulating the Racialized Sexual Order. Social & Legal Studies, 32(1), 96-115, doi.org/10.1177/09646639221094754, Rébecca Franco.2022| (Inter)racialisation: the regulation of domestic and urban space in housing North-African migrants in 1960s and 1970s France. Migration Politics, 1(1), 003, , doi: 10.21468/MigPol.1.1.003, Rébecca Franco.2022| Researching racialisation: the regulation of interracialised intimacies in France (1954-1979). Recht der Werkelijkheid, 43, doi.org/10.5553/RdW/138064242022043001009, Rébecca Franco.2019| Invalidating the Archive: Interpreting Silences and Inconsistencies. Sentio, 1(1), 42-48, link, Rébecca Franco and Nawal Mustafa.Edited book chapters2025| Policing “zones of degeneracy”: (post)colonial migrants and interracialized sex and intimacies in France (1954-1979), in Regulating Empire and Nation: Interracialised Intimacies in Europe and beyond, edited by Elena Zambelli and Betty de Hart, Routledge, doi.org/10.4324/b23393, Rébecca Franco.PhD dissertation2023| Between Problematisation and Invisibilisation: The Regulation of Interracialised Intimacies and (Post) Colonial Immigration in France (1954-1979), published PhD dissertation, 285 pages, doi.org/10.5463/thesis.84, Rébecca Franco.
policy
My policy work comes from my commitment to research that serves the communities it studies. I work with advocacy groups, experts (including by experience), and colleagues to bring research findings into policy discussions. I see community accountability as the starting point.I am currently embedded in that work as a consultant for the Dutch alliance for the destigmatization of sex workers (SWAD), where I support their policy participation. I have also worked for the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA) as a digital rights consultant, conducting research and writing a policy report on how advertisement platforms can and should better protect the safety and labour rights of sex workers. I have led workshops for Bufas (2024), the network of social workers and counselors working with sex workers in Berlin, and provided advice to NGOs such as Aidsfonds (2023).This community-rooted work also informs how I approach research outputs. Together with colleagues Emilija Jokubauskaitė and Hanne Stegeman, we published a report on improving the working conditions of online sex workers on adult platforms. Rather than simply translating findings into recommendations, we organized a community workshop so that voices from within the industry shaped what those recommendations look like. We subsequently presented this report to a broad array of stakeholders, including representatives of adult platforms, adult trade associations, and policy makers.This work has also brought me into dialogue with (inter)governmental bodies, including OFCOM in the UK (2026), the European Commission (2025), and the research centre of the Dutch government (WODC) (2026), where I have presented research findings and provided advice to policy makers and practitioners.
Policy reports2025| Webcam work: policies, practices and platforms. Rébecca Franco, Emilija Jokubauskaitė and Hanne Stegeman. link2024| Labour rights, safety and privacy: How to centre sex workers’ needs on advertising platforms. Written for ESWA. link
media
The communities and issues I study are often mis- or selectively represented in the public debate. Media appearances and public events are one way to push back against that, and to make research findings accessible to the people they concern most.I present my research at public-facing events, such as at De Nacht van de Sociologie (2023), Spui25 (2024), Sex Salon (2025), and Amsterdam Porn Film Festival (2025).My research is covered in various media outlets, both in print, television, podcasts, and online, as the selection listed below.
In the media2026| On the platformization of the adult industry and GenAI (interview, quoted)
Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden), 21 February, link2025| On regulation of online sexual content by payment intermediaries (Japanese translation)
note.com, 25 September, link2025| On erotic webcamming as work (interview on project together with colleagues)
NRC, 9 September, link2025| On regulation of online sexual content in gaming by payment intermediaries (interview, quoted)
Rock Paper Shotgun, 8 March, link2024| On history of colonialism and pornography (documentary interview)
Sexotisch, Omroep Zwart, NPO3, 20 November, link2024| On content moderation and the adult entertainment industry (podcast interview)
Safety for who?, Digital shadows podcast, 11 July, link2023| On online intimacy (documentary interview)
Dickpics: de keiharde wetenschap, BNNVARA, NPO3, 29 November, link2023| On sex workers' online privacy (op-ed authored with Hanne Stegeman)
"Bescherm de online privacy van sekswerkers beter"
het Parool, 14 August, link2023| On the regulation of migration and racialisation in France (10 minutes radio interview)
Ook Franse staat droeg bij aan 'diepgeworteld racisme' in Frankrijk, Nieuwsweekend, omroep MAX, NPO1, 22 July, link2023| On displacement of sex workers in Amsterdam (interview, quoted)
Le Monde, 19 July, link
Contact
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