Several adult performers logged into their Instagram accounts to find a notification that as of October 25th, they will no longer be able to do swipe-up (sticker) links because their account violates community guidelines.

This means no more “swipe up” type links in their IG stories.

I adult performer told me that her violation was that she posted a story that said “follow me on Twitter” and then provided a link to her Twitter account.

Annabell Redd said, “I’ve had tops of BOOTYCHEEKS removed and have seen some ppl post their entire asses and not get shit for it. I didn’t even have anything taken down recently.”

Marcela Latinbabe said, “Got the same notice. I haven’t gotten anything removed in a long time. And when they do remove something, they almost always repost it for NOT breaking the guidelines. And this is on my backup cause my main has been disabled for 8 weeks and again no clue why cause I didn’t do shit.”

I spoke to industry attorney Jim Felton, who told me this isn’t new. He’s working on a number of cases directly with Instagram’s legal department.

He won’t go into detail about the cases, but he did say that most of these violations fall under Instagram “adult sexual solicitation guidelines,” which specifically state that you should not post content that includes,

• Filmed sexual activities.
• Pornographic activities, strip club shows, live sex performances, or erotic dances.
• Sexual, erotic, or tantric massages.

Explicit sexual solicitation by, including but not limited to the following, offering or asking for:

• Sex or sexual partners.
• Sex chat or conversations.
• Nude photos/videos/imagery.

Instagram says they aren’t targeting sex workers, however, they defend their policy by saying it’s their attempt to make their platform welcoming for users of all ages.

The problem is, many of the posts that are given an adult sexual solicitation often times aren’t in violation of this policy at all, so it’s hard to say just why these accounts are being taken down or having their right to have swipe links removed.

Sex worker advocates say that the de-platforming of sex workers is also detrimental to both their incomes and their safety and well-being.

“If a sex worker has no way to support herself because she can no longer promote herself online, she’s a prime target to be taken advantage of by predators,” says Alana Evans, President of the APAG Union.

Like it or not, these rules are here to stay. As a private company, Instagram is under no obligation to offer users a platform with no oversight or consequences for what is posted; the platform provides a service to its users and so is allowed to censor material as it deems fit.