The sex-tech industry reports that social networking platforms such as Facebook and Linkedin are not allowing health-related sex product advertisements and promotions to be displayed on the social platform. They claim that the artificial intelligence is not able to differentiate between health-related sex products and porn-based products.
The claim made by sex technology companies is that the social tech companies are not able to differentiate between health-based sex products, positive sex products and pornography. The reports comes from Motherboard, which states that the co-founder of Emojibator, a vibrator manufacturer that produces vibrators shaped like emojis, mentioning that the company has been facing a number of obstacles in advertising and businesses online. The company says that Facebook was not allowing them to post their products on the business page. "Even if we had a picture of an actual fruit, they don't allow it," said Kris Jandler, co-founder of Emojibator. "It's a huge detriment to the industry," he said. The Emojibator was also not allowed to use PayPal’s service for sales either.
Last week, New York hosted the country’s first ever sectech hackathon, which encompasses any number of technologies that aim to enhance or innovate the sexual experience or human sexuality. The hackathon brought together many leaders in the sex-tech industry, to develop new ideas and devices for the reason. However, they all claimed to run into the same problem, which they term as ‘extreme online censorship.’
Motherboard also reported that the hackathon organizers were facing a lot of trouble to promote their move on Facebook. Fantasy app CEP Andriy Yaroshenko, who was one of the event organizers, also said that he tried to submit his advertisements more than 100 times, and was rejected each time.
Linkedin also was in the game — the ads and posts were banned on the social platform. Yaroshenko also said that he is not selling sex toys. He was running an educational hackathon which involves sexual health awareness — not porn or sex/adult entertainment. Other similar sex-related educational groups have also reported similar issues with the social networking tech companies.
‘Mal Harrison is the Director of the Center for Erotic Intelligence, a group of researchers, sexologists, doctors, and therapists that focus on sex education, activism and policy change, as well as research. From 2011 to 2014, she was a sexologist and digital strategist for New York's Museum of Sex. She said Facebook suspended the museum's page a number of times,’ reported Motherboard, which also pointed out that Harrison was not even allowed to get their business name on cheques from banks.
Facebook’s automated systems (AI) are removing loads of content that relates to sex and sexual products, terming them as inappropriate. If a Facebook user reports the particular content as explicit, the Community Operations team reviews the content and keeps it live if the content is not violating its standards. And if taken down, then the person or group that posts it can appeal against the same.
A Facebook spokesperson told Motherboard that the company was looking into the matter, but did not respond back.
