Scraping the taboo: An impeded empirical inquiry into sexcamming using web data collection

Abstract This article explores the methodological and ethical challenges of a study on adult live streaming based on web scraping. The analysis focuses on two moments defined by what remains unspoken, revealing latent tensions within the social sciences, particularly regarding sensitive digital fields. The first part examines the infrastructural politics of data: the (relative) failure to build a legitimate dataset highlights the frictions between GDPR requirements and institutional constraints, which act as invisible regulators of scientific activity. The second part addresses the embodied experience of research, analysing the emotional toll of engaging with pornographic content and the ethical bricolage implemented by researchers to cope with it. These difficulties, often left unaddressed, weigh heavily on early-career researchers, as the pressures of professional integration lead to the strategic omission of the most problematic aspects of their research. In conclusion, the article argues that these obstacles are not biases but objects of analysis, essential for understanding the heteronomy of scientific activity and the acclimatisation of digital methods within sociology.