Queer and Feminist Brands Say They Are Being Blocked from Running Ads on Instagram and Facebook

By Mary Emily O’Hara


in the event you open Instagram, it often doesn’t take long for you to find an ad in either your feed or Stories roll. However some ads, it seems, aren’t seeing the light of day — and for wholly baffling reasons.


The feminist newsletter Salty, which also publishes sex and dating-focused content, revealed on July 9 that it had attempted to run ads on Instagram featuring images of its latest magazine cover, nevertheless was denied by the platform — with a message saying “we don’t permit ads for escort services.” Readers were understandably incensed; the newsletter isn't an escort service, and the images in question showed fully-clothed queer and trans people of color. The implication ignited rage in the community over how frequently Black trans femmes are stereotyped as sex workers.


“There are biases and assumptions built into the algorithms that are designed to silence us,” Salty’s team wrote on a Instagram comment, linking the rules to recently-passed federal anti-trafficking laws referred to as FOSTA/SESTA legislation which led social media platforms to restrict users from posting sexual content. And in a blog post on Salty’s website, founder Claire Fitzsimmons noted that FOSTA (the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) has pushed sex workers out of the digital world almost entirely. (Ironically, lawmakers who introduced and passed the laws argued that these laws would “protect” girls and LGBTQ+ people.) Instagram has since approved the ads in question, telling MTV News in a statement Friday: “Every week, we review thousands of ads–and at times we make mistakes. We made mistakes here, and we apologize to Salty. We have reinstated the ads, and will continue to investigate this case to prevent it from happening again.”


What happened to Salty, as it turns out, is far from one outlying incident. A few LGBTQ-owned, women-owned, and sex-positive brands confirmed to MTV News that they had also attempted to run ads on Instagram and Facebook and had been identically censored by the platforms. All the businesses offered MTV News with documentation of declined ad images, denial messages, emails, and other proof that they were unable to run ads for reasons they felt were unfair or inappropriate.


Take Morgasm for example: The organization describes itself as a “gender-free, all-inclusive streetwear style brand with non-binary collections for adults and kids.” Founder Morgan Burton (hence the catchy name) and her partner Tara O’Callaghan have derived denial messages from Instagram that mention the name of the organization is thought profanity. (In contrast, the makeup brand Nars routinely advertises its tentpole Orgasm collection on its popular Instagram; MTV News reached out to Nars to ask whether it has encountered censorship because of the product name nevertheless did not immediately receive a response.)


What’s more, Morgasm’s Shopify account has been blocked from selling directly to clients from the brand’s Instagram account. As soon as Shopify, a popular e-commerce platform for online stores, was told it was not allowed to market Morgasm’s line on Instagram, it relayed the message to the clothing corporation in emails O’Callaghan shared with MTV News. Morgasm attempted to appeal the decision through both Shopify and Instagram, however hasn't been successful.


“We have explained to [Instagram] we are a style brand and not a sex brand,” O’Callaghan told MTV News on Friday. “Shopify has been exceedingly cooperative, has contacted Instagram on our behalf multiple times to no avail. Nevertheless, Instagram will not approve us, even right after our beginning request and two appeals a number of months apart.”


Morgasm has been able to run some ads on Instagram — although the clothing brand isn't allowed to enable direct shopping from those ads or from its own posts, the way that other brands do. And it’s costing the queer-owned style agency dearly.


“Since we were refused by Instagram, the platform has enabled shopping from Instagram itself, costing us even more on sales since we can't capitalize on the new feature,” mentioned O’Callaghan. She mentioned the corporation is “unable to tag the items in posts and make it shoppable,” and, as a result, they tend to avoid running ads on an more and more valuable platform. “We don't visualize almost any return on investment from the ad spend,” she added.


While such arbitrary and misclassified blocks can feel like some sort of absurd mistake, similar denials have left queer publications and brands guessing what is or isn’t allowed. Thomas Brunskill, creator of the British LGBTQ+ project Mundane zine, told MTV News that Instagram resisted an ad for a queer t-shirt line, citing “inappropriate language,” which was Brunskill thinks was triggered by the word “queer” appearing in the ad. El Champ, which charges itself as “the first health and fitness mag for the queer collective,” mentioned it has experienced similar censorship. Founder Matthew Dempsey told MTV News that as soon as the magazine attempted to run an ad on Facebook and Instagram featuring a somewhat demure photo of a partial torso, he acquired a message talking about the ad violated Facebook's Advertising Policies under Section 8 (Adult items and Services) and Section 9  (Adult Content.) Dempsey tried replacing the torso with a photo of a basketball hoop, and was still rejected.


“I used what I believed a safe alternative for the ad. This was also declined for promoting ‘sex toys or adult products.’ I knew there was a problem in Facebook's system for reviewing ads because the image was of just a basketball hoop,” mentioned Dempsey. He added that he has since been able to get an ad approved, yet only immediately after tweaking ad configuration in regards to the aim audience: “The only real difference was the ‘defined’ target audience. I believe the ‘interests’ filter used to target a market is a tool to flag content clearly aimed at reaching the queer community.”


“We have ad policies that help foster a positive, inclusive and safe environment for the community,” a Facebook spokesperson told MTV News any time reached for comment. (Facebook has owned and operated Instagram since 2012, and both platforms share the same critical terms of service in regards to suitable content.) The spokesperson mentioned that several of the brands MTV News talked to do run ads on Instagram — although added that some of these ads had been denied due to “policy violations” around profanity or nudity. It’s not clear what the threshold for either category is.


“We recognize that at times we make mistakes as soon as reviewing ads however we are devoted to making things right – it is never our intention to silence marginalized voices,” the spokesperson mentioned. “We will continue to investigate these cases to improve how we enforce our ad policies.”


Whenever asked in a follow-up email whether Instagram and Facebook sustain top list of unacceptably profane terms, and whether words like “queer” or “orgasm” are among them, the business did not respond.


Trigger filters are one thing; other organizations have been told they can’t run ads as the very product they’re marketing is altogether banned from advertising on the platform in a way they mention is downright sexist. On March 8, the Los Angeles-based sexual health brand Voodoo attempted to run Instagram and Facebook ads promoting a special International Women’s Day sale; the ads didn’t use images of any products, only an illustration of a women’s symbol with the phrase “we cherish you.” The business creates sex toys that are marketed especially to girls and the LGBTQ+ community, and says its mission is to remove stigma and shame around sexual wellness. Yet it was told both platforms ban “ads that promote adult products or services like sex toys, sexual enhancement products, or sexual videos and publications.”


Voodoo brand manager Sally Cotching finds that puzzling, given that the platforms do let ads for erectile dysfunction medication, which would seemingly be a direct violation of the platforms’ ban on sexual enhancement products, and also because the advertisement of prescription drugs.


“It is frustrating for us as soon as brands like Hims can promote sexual performance-enhancing products for boys — we support this, by the way, they're a wonderful brand — however a female-focused brand designed for females to adore themselves and close the 'pleasure gap' cannot, any time males report reaching climax while in sex far more routinely than women,” Cotching told MTV News.


A Facebook spokesperson told MTV News that ads aren’t allowed to name specific prescription illegal substances, yet organizations can market to people based on certain conditions. And you also can’t run an ad saying “buy Viagra here,” although you can run an ad that says “here’s a way to help erectile dysfunction.” This approach would not work for Voodoo’s products.


Cotching pointed out that several of Hims’s ads rely on phallic references, which served because the topic of much contention once sex toy firm Dame sued the New York City MTA for denying its ads nevertheless allowing droopy cacti in Hims ads that clearly served as stand-ins for penises. “It's a double common we visualize repeatedly,” Cotching mentioned. “Women taking ownership of their pleasure is still seen as taboo and makes people uncomfortable — however males taking a pill solely the reason for enhancing his sexual efficiency is seen as standard.”


As soon as Amy Nichol began her job as social media manager for the techie-friendly sex toy firm Lovense, she attempted to get creative by as an alternative promoting the company’s blog posts, yet says that even those were denied.


“After reading the terms of use on Facebook and Instagram, I determined that I may attempt to promote an article from our blog about pain throughout sex as I thought it could be classified as 'educational',” Nichol mentioned. The promotion was blocked by both Facebook and Instagram, although she points out that “none of the photographs or articles we attempted to promote showed a sex toy or anything explicit.”


In addition, Lovense’s entire Instagram account was recently disabled without explanation, which made Nichols nervous about attempting to run ads again. While the organization is devoted to working within each platform’s terms of service, Nichols believes “it is time that a dialogue is opened about what makes sexual pleasure such a taboo subject and how huge platforms like Instagram and Facebook are so against it.”


And even in the event you are able to post your ads, there’s no promise they’ll stay up for the allotted quantity of time. Body painter Ayja Lanay attempted to promote photographs of her work, she says the ads ran for several days before being taken down for violating nudity rules. Lanay attempted to run a second series of ads immediately after blurring out the (painted) nipples in the torso pictures, although was denied again. The artist tells MTV News that she bought the ads although also hasn’t been able to get her cash back.


“I’m not going to stop promoting my artwork. I will not stop posting my artwork,” mentioned Lanay, who added that she felt “harassed” by Instagram and that the platform has threatened to delete her account. “It will only make me go harder as an artist because I’m not only doing this for myself, I’m doing it for so several females who message me and thank me for my bravery.”


Even illustrators who don’t post any photos at all have felt the burn of what usually be a usually anti-sex ethos targeting girls in particular on the platforms. Exotic Cancer, a popular account that posts blithe cartoons about Tinder profiles and strip club clientele in a unmistakable, candy-colored fashion, was deleted at over 300,000 followers. Readers of the comics came to the account’s aid, successfully demanding that Instagram reinstate it. However the illustrator in back of Exotic Cancer has since mentioned in interviews that her account has been “shadowbanned,” or subtly concealed from the eats of its followers. And like several Instagram artists that find themselves subject to frequent takedowns, Exotic Cancer maintains a second backup account in case the main account gets deleted again.


Illustrator, comedian, and exotic dancer Jacq The Stripper has been featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, and more — yet she recently discovered, with the help of her 162,000 Instagram followers, that her profile no longer pops up as soon as searched for (it’s true, we tried it). Around a month ago she tweeted that the “swipe up” she used to sell her popular clothing, art, and book products feature in Instagram stories had simply disappeared from her account.


According to Salty’s founder, this sort of censorship fueled by puritanism isn't new. While certain heavy-handed policies have increased since FOSTA/SESTA — and extend far in back of impacting online sex workers — Fitzsimmons argues that there’s a flaw in the code itself.


“It would appear that algorithms are written with inbuilt bias that reflects the needs and desires of the creators of our digital world: primarily cis, straight, white men,” Fitzsimmons told MTV News on Friday. “This bias ensures that femme, trans, plus-sized, disabled, queer bodies (particularly queer people of color) are more rather regulated.”