PALO ALTO — A week after a group of performers and organizations, led by Pornhub, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta execs, decrying blatant discrimination against sex workers, Instagram has yet to respond to follow-up questions about its permanent shutdown of the adult platform’s account.
German tech news site NetzPolitik.org, which has been closely covering local and European attempts to censor adult material, sent questions to an Instagram spokesperson concerning the Pornhub deletion, which may not be appealed.
“After receiving our request,” wrote NetzPolitik reporter Sebastian Meineck, “Instagram told us that they have suspended the Pornhub account for ‘repeated policy violations.’ According to the social media giant, “the violations had increased in the more than ten-year-old account.”
But Instagram adamantly refused to reveal “which posts are said to have violated which rules,” NetzPolitik reported.
“Our question as to how Instagram would react to Pornhub's open letter was left unanswered by the company,” Meineck revealed.
Although Instagram told TechCrunch that it has “no policies targeting adult industry creators,” sources close to ongoing negotiations over sex worker account closures told XBIZ that Meta counsel maintains that the company and its subsidiaries “are not in the pornography business.”
Over the weekend, several adult performers and models took to social media and Instagram comment sections to condemn the apparent double standard under which Instagram has swiftly deactivated the accounts of individual sex workers and companies such as Pornhub, while more mainstream celebrities and companies continue posting barely pixilated nudes without consequences.
As XBIZ reported, signatories of last week's letter include the Free Speech Coalition, APAG, Riley Reid, Adriana Chechik, Ricky Johnson, Johnny Sins, Abella Danger, Violet Myers, Britney Amber, Lucy Hart, Joanna Angel, Aubrey Kate, Casey Calvert, Holly Randall, Keiran Lee, Wolf Hudson, Kira Noir, Natassia Dreams, Asa Akira, Dante Colle, Cherie DeVille, Abigail Mac, Alana Evans and many others.
The letter demanded "fair treatment on Instagram for adult performers, sex workers, and any compliant adult business, including Pornhub. While mainstream brands and celebrity accounts frequently feature nudity and overt sexuality with no repercussions, our fully PG accounts are regularly banned without adequate explanation."
