Instagram Reinstates Pornhub Account After Five-Month Ban

Pornhub is back on Instagram after the Meta-owned social network appears to have reversed its ban on the sex site.

As of Sunday (Feb. 19), Pornhub’s account on Instagram, where it has 12.9 million followers, had been reinstated. That came after Instagram in early September 2022 banned Pornhub, with a spokesperson for Meta citing the account’s repeated violations of the company’s community guidelines including its ban on sexual solicitation over the course of more than 10 years. A month later, Instagram disabled a second account that Pornhub had established to try to circumvent the ban of its primary account.

In a statement Pornhub issued Sunday, the site said: “We are pleased that, in reinstating our Instagram account, Meta has acknowledged that Pornhub always has and will continue to respect the platform’s community guidelines. At a time of increased censorship and discrimination against performers in the adult space, it is critical that platforms like Instagram are inclusive and provide safe communities for creators to express themselves.”

The statement continued, “Pornhub will continue to champion the rights of our community and to lead by example in offering a safe and inclusive space for content sharing and monetization.”

In an Instagram Story, Pornhub posted a screenshot of what appears to be a message from Instagram saying that the sex site’s account was reactivated after it was “disabled by mistake.” Reps for Instagram and Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Separately, in December 2022 YouTube shut down Pornhub’s YouTube channel, claiming that Pornhub violated the platform’s policy against linking to external websites that host content that isn’t allowed on YouTube itself.

The internet platforms’ actions against Pornhub came after parent company MindGeek was sued by numerous plaintiffs who alleged that Pornhub has profited by distributing child pornography and nonconsensual sex videos. MindGeek has said the allegations lack merit and that it has “instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history.”

Last year, Visa and Mastercard cut off payment processing to TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of MindGeek that sells ads on Pornhub, after a federal court ruling last summer rejected Visa’s request to be removed from a case in which MindGeek is being sued for allegedly distributing child pornography. The plaintiff in that case alleged Visa knowingly facilitated MindGeek’s ability to monetize the illegal content.

Meanwhile, Netflix next month will release a documentary about the controversial site, “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story,” exploring its history and recent backlash.

Pictured above: Banner at the Pornhub booth at the 2023 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at Resorts World Las Vegas on Jan. 6, 2023

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