LONDON, UK—Instagram’s much-deplored self-regulation has spread to include “sexually suggestive” content, with the company announcing that, “We have begun reducing the spread of posts that are inappropriate but do not go against Instagram’s Community Guidelines.”
According to Techcrunch, “That means if a post is sexually suggestive, but doesn’t depict a sex act or nudity, it could still get demoted.” Translated, that means sexy posts may not show up in feeds or searches, or may be deleted entirely—and Be A Bimbo founder Alicia Amira doesn’t like it one bit.
“This is a huge setback for our human rights, because with this new algorithm they are about to create, they will be ‘hunting’ down content that could be considered inappropriate in order to teach a[n] [AI] machine what to look for,” she said. “According to Instagram, content that will be demoted for being ‘sexually suggestive’ is literally just a woman in underwear. I have no words other than an encouragement to all of you to use your voice and refuse to get censored and stripped of your basic human rights. There's nothing left to say other than, until this change: be careful what you post. Even though this is not fair at all, we will have no way of fighting back and raising awareness of this if your accounts gets demoted, or worse, deleted. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but unfortunately Instagram has the upper hand; they can do what they want, so please be careful with your content but continue to talk about this! For the first time I fear for my own business and I'm left with a million questions such as: why is something not allowed on this platform when it's allowed in the outside world? Is a woman in a bikini ‘sexually suggestive’? Are my normal clothes? When, what and why?”
Alicia has teamed up with fellow sex worker and recognized artist Exotic Cancer to raise awareness and to fight the censorship, and they are introducing a special collaboration between Be A Bimbo and Exotic Cancer. The pair are developing the hashtag #stopcensoringsluts to fight back, and this week they are releasing anti-censorship croptops and limited edition art pieces as well. Alicia has also kicked off a new blog, Bimbo Life, to talk about these issues, and will be working to organize meetups for like-minded women.
“This means that if a post is sexually suggestive but does not include nudity or a sex act, it could still get demoted,” Alicia said. “So, basically, it means that Instagram has found a way to get rid of, and silence, the hundreds of thousands of women who they want to delete but can't because of ‘technicalities’ like the one that they haven't actually done anything wrong.”
Those interested may wish to check out Alicia’s Instagram, Be A Bimbo, and the Bimbo Life blog. The Stop Censoring Sluts crops are available at BeABimbo.com.
Companies, brands and talent interested in business collaborations with Alicia Amira and Be A Bimbo should email [email protected].
