Today in the United States and across the world, people of marginalized sexual and gender identities are under threat. From anti-trans legislation to recent attacks on drag queens, to book bans, and our rapidly-decaying sex education in schools, institutional support for sexual and gender freedom is on thin ice. And with real-life safe spaces quickly dwindling, more and more people are seeking out safety information online. As one of the world’s largest social media platforms, Instagram has a rare opportunity to collaborate with sexuality creators to make their platform safe and inclusive for all, but this cannot be done until educators are free to openly discuss topics around sexuality without fear. 

As it stands today, sex educators are caught directly in the gap between Instagram’s messaging about its own guidelines, and the actual policing of those guidelines. Meta’s inconsistent messaging has caused sexuality educators to work overtime developing creative euphemisms (like “seggs” for “sex”) in order to protect our businesses and reach our intended audiences. But we are still being suspended and deleted in droves, because Instagram’s content moderators, perhaps lacking in sex education themselves, have not been properly trained to recognize the difference between sexual solicitation and sex education. Depictions of sex on Instagram are here to stay, but with Instagram’s disproportionate focus on driving sex educators off of its platform, it becomes a weapon against the aforementioned marginalized groups who are using Instagram to find community and safety. Further, if sex educators continue to rely on euphemisms the way we have, our messaging will become so sanitary and diluted as to become ineffectual. 

In January of 2023, Meta’s oversight board called for an overhaul of the platform’s policy around exposed nipples. In its decision, the board stated that Meta’s previous nipple policy was contrary to its “human rights responsibilities.” Per the United Nations, inalienable human rights include “the right to education and the enjoyment of benefits of cultural freedom and scientific progress.” Sex education stands exactly at the crossroads of cultural freedom and scientific progress. Now more than ever is the time for Meta to accept and support sex educators on Instagram, and this begins with further clarity on its sexual solicitation guidelines as well as fair policing of those guidelines on behalf of both the app’s automated and human moderators. We also ask that the Oversight Committee expand its policies to allow users with deleted accounts to appeal decisions, because as it stands, Meta can delete accounts before our cases ever reach the committee, effectively circumventing the appeals process. 

If you have been affected by Meta’s censorship of sexuality on Instagram, please share your story in the comments of this petition. We are stronger together!