The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away… And if the Lord is Instagram and you have anything to do with sex media, sex-related products and/or sex work, likely all that Lord does it try to fuck with you in an uneven manner.

Yesterday, we came across this news in a Tweet from @fourchambered: “Heads up! Instagram has new language when it deletes your account. ‘No sexually suggestive photos. No sexually explicit language’ stay safe out there.”

Four Chambers, located within the interwebs at afourchamberedheart.com, is “independent, DIY, conceptual; magical realism porn.” It is a project that “remains deliberately ambiguous” and is “a part of the growing decentralisation from traditional adult industry practices and studios, raising money to support the project initially by donation and now through ongoing community crowd funding.”

Neat!

It is also a project that recently got its Insta disabled, as you can see from the screen grab below, that comes via Four Chambered’s Twitter account. The image keeps getting blocked because it “might [be] sensitive content” — thanks Twitter! — hence our grab:

Presumably, Four Chambered’s Insta disabling was due to the account violating a new TOS related to language. No longer is limiting sexually suggestive imagery on Insta enough. The platform has now apparently ceased to allow sexually explicit language as well.

Now, obvs what counts as sexually suggestive and/or explicit is 100 percent variable. And based on past precedent, these policies will be variably enforced. None of this is surprising though. It’s just fucking annoying.

Reactions from members of the community are unsurprising, ranging from rage to chagrin:

And who is to decide what is sexually suggestive? This is all just getting worse and worse. I am sorry this is happening to you guys / our community.

— Dr. Mantis Toboggan (@francisfacade) September 20, 2018

What on earth is “sexually explicit language”? I guess one can’t have a fan account with quotes from 50 Shades of Grey or any number of books containing “sexually explicit language.” What about educational material? How does one talk about safety in kink without being “explicit”?

— Rebecca Madison SF (@RebeccaMadison_) September 20, 2018

Lord knows this is only going to apply to sex work, though. If a model with 100k followers posts a near-naked photo from a professional shoot with an explicit caption, I guarantee they won't do shit. The first thing they need to do is define what "explicit" even means to them.

— Darth Ophidius ? (@EspiKvlt) September 21, 2018

Once again, members of the community are put between a rock and a hard place. Use the platform that’s basically THE WAY to reach the general population and attempt to abide by its amorphous and selectively enforced rules, or don’t — and miss potential connections with endless potential fans, clients and friends.

#smdh

Shout out to Amberly Rothfield for spotting this info from Four Chambered.

RED ALERT XXX INSTAGRAM!

Now they are deleting based on sexual charged language and photos. Seems Instagram is just a no fly zone for #sexworkers now https://t.co/Bxwgi22zrW

— Amberly Rothfield (@AmberlyPSO) September 20, 2018