Meta has permanently disabled Pornhub's official Instagram account after violating community guidelines, TechCrunch reported. The action was done after weeks of suspension.
As per Meta, Pornhub has been violating the platform's terms of service for over ten years regarding nudity, adult content, sexual solicitation, and accumulating violations of its terms. However, Instagram did not specify what the other party violated.
As per Variety, the account had 13.1 million followers and 6,200 posts.
Pornhub's Response
Pornhub released an open letter on Twitter addressed to Meta executives, including Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri. It claims that what Instagram did are "opaque, discriminatory, and hypocritical."
As per Vice, almost 60 signatures were gathered by the company from different pornographers, models, and activism groups, including Riley Reid, Lucy Hart, King Noire, and the Free Speech Coalition.
The letter also states that the now banned account of the company was "fully PG." Uneven treatment was given to them as per the letter since different celebrities and models are posting much more nudity content to the platform.
Kim Kardashian was cited as an example by the company. They stated, "While Kim's photo continues accumulating likes and making headlines, members of the adult community run the risk of deplatforming if Instagram decides our pants look a bit too tight to meet its arbitrary and selectively-enforced 'standards."
Aside from the banning of the official account, sex workers and performers were also "treated unfairly" by Instagram as they experienced bans, shadow bans, suspensions, loss of Live privileges, and content removal even if they are abiding by the Community Guidelines.
Suspension Before Ban
Originally, Pornhub's Instagram account was just initially suspended three weeks ago for a temporary moment. The company's spokesperson stated that "as has happened many times in the past due to Instagram's overly cautious censoring of the adult industry, a fact that thousands of adult performers deal with everyday despite not violating any of Instagram's terms of service. We look forward to our account being reactivated, as it always has."
Weeks later, the decision to ban the account permanently has been finalized.
Mastercard and Visa's Relationship
In 2020, a report from The New York Times revealed that the site features many videos of rape. As a result, Mastercard and Visa cut their ties with Pornhub as they described these contents as "unlawful."
Mastercard Spokesperson Seth Eisen confirmed the use of cards at Pornhub is terminated as they investigate this case.
As per MindGeek, Pornhub's parent company, "zero tolerance for the posting of illegal content on its platforms, and has instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history."
This article is owned by TechTimes
Written by Inno Flores
