Pornhub banned from Instagram, cutting off access to over 13 million followers

Pornhub’s Instagram account has been banned from the photo-sharing platform, where it had millions of followers, leading anti-Pornhub campaigners to claim a victory in their ongoing battle to see the porn site’s reach suppressed online.

News of the ban began circulating around September 3, 2022, when Variety reported that prior to the account removal Pornhub had posted over 6,200 posts and had 13.1 million followers. Pornhub did not post porn on Instagram, which does not allow nudity or explicit content on the platform, but the move was seen by some as evidence that social media sites are cracking down further on associations with explicit content.

Instagram’s parent company Meta did not respond to a request from SEXTECHGUIDE for comment or clarification. We will update this article if we do receive a response.

Laila Mickelwait, who campaigns against Pornhub, posted an Instagram screengrab suggesting she had reported Pornhub’s Instagram account for review in June. The screengrab showed that she had allegedly later been sent a message saying that Pornhub’s Instagram account was removed “because it goes against our Community Guidelines”.

Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, had also campaigned to get Pornhub removed from Instagram. She told Variety that Pornhub had used the photo-sharing platform to “directly” promote porn.

Mickelwait used the ban to attempt to exert further pressure on other sites and platforms to stop working with Pornhub. Financial services companies such as Mastercard and Visa have already withdrawn from working with Pornhub, following exposes in the media about minors allegedly featuring in explicit content on the site.

“Now it’s time for Google search, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Reflected Networks to follow suit,” Michelwait said.

“It is worth remembering that according to the US Trafficking Victims’ Protection Act, it’s illegal to knowingly benefit from a sex trafficking venture. Companies that continue to do so will be held accountable,” she added.

Pornhub still has an active account and 3.4 million followers on Twitter, which does allow porn on its platform. Pornhub also still has an account on YouTube, which does not allow nudity or explicit material.

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