Instagram Deletes Sex-Positive Accounts Without Warning

Carl Verboten attempted to log into the Instagram account for Klub Verboten, his London kink space and fortnightly party, but was greeted with the message: "We have blocked your account... Your account is not currently visible to people on Instagram and you cannot useт it" 

Founded in 2016, Klub Verboten has a team of 70 freelancers and 50 security staff and has grown into a "modern human interaction community" with over 70,000 Instagram followers. The platform has been integral to the success of Klub Verboten, says Verboten.

“It has allowed a lot of people to open up and jump into a space where they can find community and like-minded people,” says Verbothen. “This direct contact was really important. Sexuality is embedded in each of us, rooted, and therefore we want to reach out to real people. It really made a difference." The team was careful not to post nudity, which is banned on Instagram. “We only post photos, people are only fully clothed in the event space,” says Verbothen. "There's nothing sexual about it, they could attend any rave these days."

But in the blink of an eye, Klub Verboten's presence and digital community were wiped off the platform last Thursday. "We didn't get any warnings, no messages," says Verboten. "Our account just disappeared from one second to the next."

Verboten's is just one of at least 45 sexuality-related accounts removed from Instagram in recent weeks. The platform has blocked users posting sex-related content, according to sex workers, activists, fetish parties and members of the sex-positive community who spoke to WIRED.

“It feels like a real attack on your identity, who you are and what you believe in, especially when it comes to sex education, safe spaces or being a sex worker,” says Reed Amber, sex worker. educator, sex worker activist, and host of the ComeCurious "F**ks Given" podcast. “Many people think that losing an Instagram account is nothing, but it is not. This is tantamount to being fired from a job. This is your time, energy and source of income, and everything that you have worked for.

Mitch Henderson, spokesperson for Meta, said: “We recognize that our platforms play an important role in helping people express themselves and connect with communities. While we allow sex-positive content and discussion, we have nudity and sexual harassment policies in place to ensure content is appropriate for everyone, especially young people. A number of accounts brought to our attention have been deleted in error and restored."

Sex education businesses and cultural initiatives, some of which had tens of thousands of followers, also came under the radar, including the British Fetish Archive at London's Bishopsgate Institute. Other victims include @thepconversation, the sex education publication of pornographic director Erica Last; Baguettes, sex-positive pottery bill; and Slut Social, a sex positive events page and meme account. Even @not.a.statistic.19, an account that posts news and articles about the sex industry, has been temporarily banned twice since June 13, its founder told WIRED.

“If you’re creating sex-positive content, now is not the right time to work on Meta or platforms,” says Caroline Are, Innovation Fellow researching social media censorship at the Northumbria University Digital Citizens Center and pole dance instructor. She compiled a list of sex-positive accounts that had been deleted and shared it with Meta in the hope that they would restore the users. Over a dozen Instagram accounts, including Klub Verboten; MakeLoveNotPorn, sex platform; and @samtalkssex, an educational account, were restored after WIRED contacted Meta.

This is just the latest in many cases where social platforms are pushing out sex workers, adult content creators and sex-related accounts. Sex workers are often at increased risk of enslavement, discrimination and violent attacks on the ground and therefore turn to digital channels. But they are also under threat as their livelihoods are at stake. Platforms that previously protected adult material have shunned it over the years, including fansite OnlyFans, which momentarily banned explicit content in 2021 before backing down. Meta also apologized to pole dancers in 2019 for shadowbanning their accounts. He also regularly shuts down sex workers' accounts and penalizes sex-related content on Instagram.

But Meta is not transparent about the trigger for Instagram's latest takedown round, Are says. Several blocked sex-positive users, including Verboten, told WIRED that and did not give a full explanation for their suspension, nor did they hear from Meta after appealing the bans.

“It's all very upsetting because the people who work through these platforms don't know what's going on,” Are says. "They see the scene being erased from Instagram, they don't know when they're next and they don't know what's causing it because there's no transparency or information from Meta."

Are, who was personally banned and previously removed from Instagram, believes that the recent round of deplatforming may be the result of a "failure" in Meta's implicit policy and algorithm regarding service pushing. According to her, he considers a "suggestive" pose, coupled with a request for communication, such as a "link in a bio" or a DM instruction, as a request.

Some recently banned users posted links to external sites before being suspended. This includes Jane Grey, a professional mistress and host of the Kink Party Scene, who she said was careful not to post explicit photos on Instagram. “I never had any warnings before because I know not to do this,” she says. “I usually use it as a portfolio of really cool photo shoots I’ve done.”

The sex-positive community is well versed in trying to dance around moderation by rewriting commonly used phrases and replacing letters or entire words with emojis and code words. Fearing they might be next, some sex education and perversion accounts are proactively taking precautions to stay out of the deletion web. Joyride, which hosts queer raves and sex-positive events in London, has completely removed links to off-platform content from its profile and created a backup account. Others are moving to other platforms altogether.

Social media accounts play a role in keeping sex workers safe by allowing the creation of a public profile and screening potential clients. But sex-positive accounts also provide transparency and education about sex and relationships to others. “My goal is just to educate people and make them feel more comfortable with themselves and their sex lives,” says Amber, who posts frequently about sex education, body acceptance, and LGBTQ+ rights. “Instagram is part of the positive sex education that we need because it is very accessible and understandable, and if that is taken away from us, we cut off a huge part of this education that we could listen to beyond what we can be taught in school."

Despite the pain, community members band together to resist the removal. Verbothen, who successfully protested nudity licensing in East London in 2022, and a broader collective of sex positive events and community members are organizing a demonstration outside Meta's London offices on July 4 and launching an online campaign called #StopDeletingUs.

“We want people to know that there are people behind these things and they can’t just always shut us down for arbitrary reasons, just because there is one frustrated algorithm, one frustrated adviser, or one officer who doesn’t like it for moral reasons. " says Verbothen. "It just doesn't reflect the world we live in anymore."