During LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we saw Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a zillion other tech platforms blast to the world how much they love trans people. But you didn’t hear a peep from tech companies about how they are currently destroying the economic health of a large sector of the trans community.
Every day, I hear a new story about how Instagram has deleted a trans porn star’s account. The infractions allegedly range from posting a photo in a bikini to simply… posting a photo. Similar stories have emerged about big tech deplatforming cisgender female adult performers and sex workers, and how deplatforming impacts porn stars’ monthly revenue. (If you can’t promote your videos, you can’t sell them!) But my trans colleagues are losing their accounts at faster paces, and Instagram’s transphobia leads trans sex workers to lose a significant revenue stream. Little of the general public knows about trans stars’ day-to-day lives, so I reached out to some of my friends to share their deplatforming stories. (Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.)
Take trans porn star Natassia Dreams. Last year, she says Instagram deleted her account six times over her photos. “Sometimes the posts were not even X-rated,” Dreams says. “I feel like it was discrimination.” Each time, she created another account, worked her ass off for two months to re-attract the same number of followers, then bam—Instagram deleted her new account.
“I find it very frustrating that I can see POC getting their lives taken away on Instagram, but I can’t post a pic that is fully covered,” Dreams says.
She isn’t alone. Trans porn star Nikki Vicious lost her Instagram account @tsnikkivicious when she reached 59,700 followers. Her account was completely safe-for-work.
Vicious joined Instagram six years ago to test her hair and clothing during the early years of her transition. “I had no female friends I could ask for help or if I looked good or whatever,” Viscous says. So, she figured if men liked her Instagram posts, she was doing something right.
And she was. Eventually, a porn producer found her Instagram and direct messaged her. She first dodged his queries, but eventually agreed to shoot her first adult video after a year of nagging. She viewed adult entertainment as a hobby because she worked a day job as a paintball field manager, but after COVID-19 policies shuttered the facility, she decided to turn porn into a full-time job. Even with more hours spent creating nude videos, Vicious kept her Instagram SFW because family followed her.
“My mom hasn’t seen my balls in about 26 years, and both she and I intend to keep that streak going,” Vicious says.
Instagram didn’t care. They deleted Vicious’s account. She created a new Instagram, but she has struggled to attract the same number of fans. According to Vicious, deplatforming caused her income stream to drop roughly 30 percent.
Her account matches statistics. As I reported last month, Centro University released a study estimating that 46 percent of adult influencers said they’d lost access to Twitter or Instagram in the previous year. The bans put a permanent dent in the stars’ income, with Centro estimating sex workers lose $260 million a year due to social media bans. Deplatforming affects adult performers’ revenue for several reasons. For one, porn consumers can’t find you if you aren’t on social media, where most viewers now discover their favorite stars. Even worse, if you lose followers, you lose your ability to promote your work, and companies will pay you less. Top girls receive top billing because they attract the maximum number of viewers.
“Now when potential producers look me up, I’m no longer the girl with 60K followers,” Vicious says. “I’m the girl with 1200.”
Despite the monetary hit, Vicious is most devastated by her lack of access to fans, colleagues, and online friends. “I now have 800 friends I can no longer contact,” Vicious says. When she messages industry contacts, her messages often go to their spam folder because they only followed her old account. Even worse, Vicious says, she can no longer flirt with male followers she found attractive. “All the hot guys in bands I like that used to message me nice shit are gone,” she says. “I couldn’t give two shits about the followers. I just miss talking to my friends. They should have let me keep [them].”
Tech conglomerates are deplatforming trans performers at an alarming rate, yet the conservatives who cry about cancel culture aren’t speaking out to defend trans women’s free speech. Based on Instagram parent company Facebook’s public declarations about “free speech” and their Pride Month PR blitz, you’d think they’d care about the LGBTQ+ community. If Facebook really cares, they should give Vicious, Dreams, and other trans adult performers their accounts back. Till then, they should shut up about how much they care about free speech and LGBTQ+ rights. Because it’s obviously BS.
