1,300 Adult Performers Said That Instagram Unfairly Removed Their Accounts

26/11/2019

The internet can be a murky place. Considering that its contents are the reflection of humans' knowledge, beliefs and activities, anything imaginable can be there.

And this makes policing and regulating increasingly difficult.

Facebook and Instagram, as well as other social media networks that also include Tumblr, have started to ban contents that showcase NSFW materials. Slowly but steadily, popular social media platforms have also banned discussions that include and not limited to: sexual preferences, sexual roles, breasts, buttocks and other adult-related terms.

Tech giants have even started restricting solicitation that involves “sexual emoji or emoji strings.”

Alongside the increasingly strict guidelines, those who work in the entertainment industry, with adult performers in particular, claimed that Instagram have deleted their accounts, and/or removed their posts automatically.

Hogwarts Preacher - IG
One of the performers complained that even if their posts don't violate, they still get removed. (Credit: @SabrinaTheBunny)

The Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG), a federal-recognized union for workers in the U.S. film industry, has gathered a list of over 1,300 adult performers (sex workers and porn stars) who claim that their accounts have been unfairly deleted by the platforms moderators for ‘violations of the site’s community standards’ - despite not showing any nudity or sex.

In other words, even when the models don’t show nudity or write anything that the platform considers NSFW, and not violating any of Instagram's community guidelines, APAG pointed out performers' accounts were censored in various cases.

Many said that they've been held to a different standard than mainstream celebrities.

APAG’s president, Alana Evans, said that:

"I should be able to model my Instagram account on Sharon Stone or any other verified profile, but the reality is that doing that would get me deleted. They discriminate against us because they don’t like that we do for a living."

Then there is the fact of 'double standards' on Facebook's platforms.

When men post naked women, for example, the posts weren't censored. But when women post a naked picture of themselves, Instagram quickly stepped in.

Previously, pole dancer and blogger Bloggeronpole had her posts censored and restricted from Instagram's search for containing hashtags like #poledancing and #femalefitness.

Although Instagram later apologized and changed its policy around censored hashtags, the social media continues to block and/or restrict tags that may be used to share content in violation of its guidelines.

“Celebrities keep their pictures, but we can’t even post a video of us working out in a bikini,” said Bloggeronpole to the BBC.

“If you are using your body in one way or another, even for education or to promote body positivity, you can’t do it anymore because of the way social media is being run.”

"When you put time and effort into building an account with over 300,000 followers and it gets deleted, that makes you feel defeated," said adult performer and sex workers' rights activist Ginger Banks, was one of the first targets of the campaign.

"Even if you're following the rules, you still have your account deleted. And that's the part that's frustrating."

What make things worse is that, Instagram is also accused for lacking the ability to facilitate and support conversations that include positive notions of human sexuality.

In its defense, a spokesperson for Facebook said that:

"With such a globally diverse community, we have to put rules in place around nudity and sexual solicitation to ensure content is appropriate for everyone, particularly young people. We will take action on content reported to us if it breaks these rules. We give people the opportunity to appeal the decision and will reinstate content if we mistakenly remove something."