Email template to press@instagram.com

Email title: 

Instagram, please reconsider your nudity policies

Text:

Dear Instagram Press Team

I’m writing to you because Instagram’s new, updated Terms of Use have left sex workers, pole dancers, sex educators and erotic artists across different backgrounds, gender identities and walks of life very concerned about their place on the platform and the future of their profiles. A variety of users that depend on Instagram for their monthly income feel under threat and unwelcome. Sex workers and other users feel they are being erased and deplatformed. Particularly during a global pandemic that forced many of us to work online, Instagram is both a platform to express ourselves and our only way to make a living.

Users on the platform that share content featuring some form of nudity - whether that’s through sex work, art, fitness or education - are concerned that they are being unfairly targeted while celebrities are allowed to share similar forms of sexual content. While abuse (verbal or image-based) continues to thrive on the platform, it seems that sexuality - a key aspect of people’s lives - is bearing the brunt of Instagram’s moderation.

Instagram have recently stated that they do not allow or facilitate sexual encounters between adults on the platform. However, a lot of the nudity and sexual references you ban - e.g. strip club shows, erotic dances, references to arousal or pointing users to other platforms such as OnlyFans - do not facilitate sexual encounters. They are merely self-expression, education or, sometimes, direction to take those encounters elsewhere.

In light of these concerns and the new Terms of Use, and as a [insert background], I’m writing to you to consider making your platform more inclusive of nudity and sexuality, to allow marginalised communities to still earn a living during the pandemic, to educate young people and to allow self-expression.

Thank you

[Name of Sender]