Instagram and the Censorship of Sex

It’s no secret to anyone that Instagram has become a garbage fire of an app. Their algorithm hides content from people we actually want to see, and they consistently ignore feedback from their users. Now, to add to the never-ending list of complaints against this app is their new updated Terms of Service. In short, their Terms of Service is now censoring sex education accounts and sex workers.

This is an issue. Because of COVID, sex workers have to find other virtual, safe channels to promote their business. These sweeping restrictions are putting people in danger by forcing them off the platform.

Here are a few of their terms:

Honestly, I’m not really sure what we ~can~ actively do about this. It feels very disempowering and really highlights a general lack of public protection for sex workers, as well as a lack of regard for comprehensive sex education. There has been a petition going around (https://www.change.org/p/instagram-instagram-stop-unfairly-censoring-nudity-and-sexuality), organized by artists, strippers, and other creatives, but sometimes I wonder what impact really has. Can we change.org our way out of a system that already doesn’t protect the marginalized?