A Google search for porn
(Picture: PA Archive)Instagram has now removed Pornhub’s account from its platform, according to a Vice report, three weeks after temporarily disabling it following pressure from “anti-porn crusaders”.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, told Vice they had permanently disabled Pornhub’s Instagram account for “repeatedly violating our policies”.
Instagram said it had repeatedly warned Pornhub over the past few years of posts that violated its terms of use, but did not specify the exact reason for this ban.
Pornhub responded by posting a letter on Twitter noting that its account was “fully PG”, and pointing out what it saw as the uneven treatment it was receiving compared to celebrities posting nudity on Instagram.
The company referred to a photo of Kim Kardashian’s “fully exposed ass” posted on her Instagram account, taken as part of a photoshoot for Interview Magazine.
“We are happy to see that Kim and the artistic team behind the image are free to share their work on the platform, but question why we are denied the same treatment,” the letter reads.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), a US organisation, claimed it was behind the first ban in a press release sent to journalists at the time. But Pornhub said, “Anti-porn crusaders like NCOSE (formerly named Morality in Media)” intentionally misled the media about why Pornhub’s Instagram account was disabled, and “actively misled people into believing they were responsible”.
While Pornhub’s Instagram posted non-pornographic content, the NCOSE claimed it had “directly promoted pornography” by uploading videos that encouraged people to take up a career in porn.
Instagram has been notoriously strict on any content it deems as pornographic over the years, kicking porn stars off its platform regularly. Pole dancers and strippers have also reportedly faced more stringent regulation.
But Instagram is not the only company closing down on porn: Visa and Mastercard recently stopped providing payment services to TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of Pornhub parent company MindGeek.
