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If you think deplatforming is just for demagogues & insurrectionists, let's have a little talk about how content moderation is everywhere
A few days ago, @LinkedIn banned @TeaLatvala & her business.
Her business makes and sells Finnish designed sex toys https://teatiamo.com/
A few days ago, @LinkedIn banned @TeaLatvala & her business.
Her business makes and sells Finnish designed sex toys https://teatiamo.com/
Linked In said "this type of content was not allowed" and later locked her account.
Now, banning or deplatforming sex *workers* is nothing new. It deprives groups that are already marginalized of a way to make an income and puts them more at risk. https://twitter.com/TeaLatvala/status/1349317961966907393
Now, banning or deplatforming sex *workers* is nothing new. It deprives groups that are already marginalized of a way to make an income and puts them more at risk. https://twitter.com/TeaLatvala/status/1349317961966907393
But, because sex work is often criminalized (whether this should be so is a topic for another time), platforms banning out of compliance with the law is somewhat understandable.
But that's not what's happening here.
But that's not what's happening here.
This is a legal product, not a criminalized service. And as far as functional definitions go a ban on a business that manufactures sex toys seems, at a functional definitional level, impossibly vague.
I mean. . . anything can be a sex toy if you try hard enough.
I mean. . . anything can be a sex toy if you try hard enough.
But what I really want to emphasize here is the power of these platforms over small businesses and the ability of individuals to earn a living.
This is no surprise to anyone whose channel has been banned from YouTube, or tries to work the gig economy, or is a sex worker.
This is no surprise to anyone whose channel has been banned from YouTube, or tries to work the gig economy, or is a sex worker.
What's a big deal here is it shows how much harm can happen to anyone running a legal business -- the loss in advertising, connections, supply chains, hiring -- and how little recourse there is to fix it if you're just an average person.
/fin
/fin
