Instagram’s censorship has returned to kick my ass yet again. Only two months after Instagram deleted my first @vixentempleblog account for calling the patriarchy out on it’s bullshit, Instagram has decided to delete my back up page. “Hate speech” was their reasoning for the removal back in May. This time round I was left in the dark, having no idea what I had done “wrong” and how to resolve it. It wasn’t until a few hours after my backup account was removed that I discovered another page had been removed by Instagarm, and I finally made the connection: Both of our pages had shared a post about decriminalising migrant sex work.
Filthy Clusterfck - an online & physical magazine based creative collective, adding to the enablement of our interconnectivity, access to resources, equality, education & respect for Sex Workers Self Autonomy & mahi - also lost their page due to the ridiculous anti sex work gudelines implented as a result of FOSTA/SESTA. I spoke with H (Ia // Them) from Filthy Clusterfck about this unjust censorship.
“I was sent the link (for the petition) from a sex worker I work with and felt an inclination to share it through Filthy's Instagram & on my website.” Says H. “After reading a few days worth of analysis from the data given by Instagram, we saw it had reached over 800+ stories/shares, we had received 200+ supporters & the post was saved over 500+ times. We were ecstatic, but there was no doubt a sense of dread waiting for some 'key word' to single out it's justification for deletion. So when it happened yesterday we'd had a steady incline of support & the petition went from 17 signatures to 650+ within the timeframe of us posting it. I logged in, and it logged me out.”
Filthy Clusterfck received the same ominous message I did: "your account has been disabled". But neither one of us were offered a solution to resolve this issue.
“All they did was ask for my number and say '’We’ll review your info and if we can confirm it, you'll be able to request a review in the Help Center within approximately 24 hours’. Then I only had the option to Log Out.”
Having your instagram deleted is a strange phenomenon that I am still struggling to find the words to describe. H was able to help me put my emotions into words: “Censoring our page was pretty fucking defeating, but it wasn't something I hadn't felt before within this industry and marketing prohibition on Social Media platforms. Honestly, I'm not shocked, I’m just hurting for the incapacity of emotion, understanding and mutual respect for sex workers.”
There’s a whole new level of disappointment when the reason you were removed was for sharing important resources. In Aotearoa, migrant workers on working visas are not allowed to legally work as sex workers, despite sex work being decriminlaised in New Zealand as a result of the 2003 Prostitues Collective Reform Act (praise the New Zealand Protitues Colletive!). When migrant sex workers can’t operate legally, they do not have the same working rights that New Zealand citizen sex workers have. This puts them at a much higher risk of being trafficked. This is increibly ironic, as the reason our pages were deleted was because of guidelines imposed by FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act). This bill was implemented with the intention of combating online sex trafficking, but it has done nothing but deplatform sex workers, putting us at a much higher risk of harm (and being trafficked).
“I have been in the industry for 5 years and find more often than not personally, the worst part of my job is the mistreatment & inaccessibility enablement for just earning my income safely (I PAY TAX FOR) in the ways that work for me.” H informed me. “Sex work is something I personally align with as a career, within it, directly associated, throughout advocacy etc. It is not something to sustainably be seen as erosive to our society. Sex should be a safe, consensual & enjoyable experience - in whatever way, with whom ever your partner/s is/are. Acknowledging it & creating safe, educated community spaces are a fundamental requirement for our society.”
Online censorship has been negatively impacting sex workers since FOSTA/SESTA was imposed in 2019.
“I've been shadow banned & deleted for violence / hate speech / sexual content etc, and it's felt eroding every time. It affects income, well being, livelihoods - and it isn't taken seriously enough for those in the industry. Placing prohibitions and restrictions on Sex Work has impacted education, safety, accessible support networks and community resources within the industry. We hope to break down sexual stigma, the Patriarchy, the Whorerachy, Whorephobia & taboo around Aotearoa’s Sexual Culture.”
My theory as to why my page keeps being targeted is the same as H’s; we are being unfairly targeted for elevating sex workers voices:
“When I wasn't given an explanation at all this time for Filthy's deletion - I felt the ideal result here is reducing education around sex work. Without education reaching our communities, our society only enables the proliferation of exploitation & abuse within our industry. More often than not, from the same people wishing to dehumanise our mahi & well earned income.”
Filthy Clusterfck is doing important, incrieble mahi and now they’ve had their page (which had more than 900 followers) removed for advocating for migrant sex workers. Clusterfck is fully self funded, assisted with Koha from supporting whānau and friends. Despite this, H states that “It will always remain a priority for us that all contributors receive koha, and recognition for their work within Filthy Clusterfck.”
Clusterfck started as a collective focusing purely around Sex Workers Rights & equality in Aotearoa, and soon expanded into Sexual Education, consent & destigmatisation.
“I began talking to more individuals and felt the encompassment of our focus was too small. So we kept growing, learning, embracing, & connecting the relativity of trauma & how colonialism has shaped our communities. Questioning topics like our education systems lack of inclusion of more indigenous Queer Sex & gender identities as well as Western beliefs. Our kaupapa is to form a diverse collective of local artists, small businesses, and individuals who understand the importance of a much needed change within our society, culture, language & education systems!”
Clusterfck’s hope is to represent and reflect as many voices as they can, and they were silenced for it. How many incredible resources/groups will we lose to this era of intense censorship? I hope that future generations will talk about how ridiculous our generation's online double standards are. Where does the censorship end? Sex workers have been warning the masses about the negative impacts of FOSTA/SESTA since 2019, and we really need you to listen. Don’t wait until it directly affects you before you get upset. If you’re a civilian, please use your privilege to help us raise awareness of censorship.
Because imagine how boring the internet will be once sex workers are erased from the it entirely ...
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