Vice Examines APAG Protest of Instagram Disabling Practices

CYBERSPACE—With the seeming scourge adult performers have been plagued by year after year of having their Instagram accounts disabled without warning, adult industry union APAG (Adult Performers Actors Guild) recently initiated a group appeal to the Facebook-owned platform protesting what they deem to be unjust and discriminatory purging practices by the social media giant against adult talent. Vice reporter Samantha Cole looked into APAG's campaign in a story posted to the news site Monday that points up Instagram's apparently inconsistent enforcement of its community guidelines (something for which many have laid blamed squarely upon the harassment tactics of an anti-porn "troll" who goes by the name of "Omid"), citing as illustration the immunity celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian seem to have when it comes to posting just-shy-of-nude pictures while adult performers like Riley Reid repeatedly get their accounts disabled despite never posting anything as revealing. "There are performers being deleted because they put up a picture of their freshly painted toenails," APAG president Alana Evans told Vice. "It became really obvious that either people were being unnecessarily reported and removed without Instagram caring or Instagram just outright not replying at all, and locking them out." APAG has set up an online form asking performers to report their individual cases of Instagram disabling their accounts, and the group told Vice it has thus far collected roughly 500 usernames through the form of those in adult who believe said accounts were disabled unfairly. APAG attorney James Felton also noted that he has sent two letters to Instagram on behalf the group requesting reinstatement of any account shut down without legitimate cause, and received no reply. The form itself goes further in its claims against Instagram of arbitrarily enforcing its policies, stating, "Many [adult performer accounts] have been deleted for bikini photos, workout videos, and less, while celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, and countless other Instagram Verified celebrities, post images on a regular basis with full nudity, exposed nipples, bare backside and more. Each photo, with it's [sic] millions of LIKES, contributes to those women's already massive incomes, as well as Instagram's bank account. "When people ask why performers care, it is because they too have monetized their following, legally," the form continues. "Many performers, with their massive followings on Instagram that they have worked incredibly hard for, use their social media platforms for promotion, sponsorship, and more. They have legitimate, legal businesses, and are losing income due to this blatant discrimination." Instagram's community guidelines pertaining to nudity on the platform state the following: "We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too." While, as the Vice article points out, Instagram's treatment of adult industry-related accounts is almost surely tied in with last year's passage of the highly contested FOSTA/SESTA law—which dubiously conflated sexual speech online with sex trafficking and opened up companies like Facebook to liability for such (ironically, after having supported FOSTA/SESTA, Facebook now finds itself facing two lawsuits filed under the statute's provisions accusing the company of facilitating actual sex trafficking)—countless instances can easily be found on the platform of posts to non adult industry-related accounts that blatantly violate the above guidelines. A few examples: Still, APAG and any adult performer wishing to challenge Instagram's deletion of his or her account have an uphill battle to fight, considering that, for one, its community guidelines also explicitly prohibit "[o]ffering sexual services"—a broad stipulation that may or may not be interpreted to mean promoting sexually oriented media or interactive online entertainment—and secondly, its terms of use bind members to an agreement that "you waive your right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration." Read Vice's full report on APAG's petition to Instagram here. As that battle persists, meanwhile, it's worth noting that AVN has created a unique social media platform of its own, AVN Stars, specifically tailored to the needs of the adult performer community, with none of the restrictions Instagram and other social networks impose. Performers are encouraged to explore AVN Stars here.