Over the 13 years that I’ve been in this industry, I’ve seen Instagram rise onto the scene, becoming one of the top social media platforms. In 2012 it was acquired by Facebook. In 2018, the anti-SWrk law FOSTA-SESTA (read: What is FOSTA-SESTA) was passed, resulting in destructive and more expansive censorship of adult professionals online. This law has quite literally and demonstrably made things worse for everyone it was intended to “help” - both SWers and victims of trafficking. (read: this article). It was never about helping people, it was always about morality and limiting the freedom to build businesses in this industry.
Over the years I’ve seen countless numbers of my colleagues have their accounts suspended and removed. An entire body or work, a virtual community, an online place to be seen and heard - erased. It happened to me once years ago and I got it reinstated. This time, it appears I am down for good.
I was @MistressViola for 8+ years on IG, I had a valuable and engaged following of about 12.5K (I was proud of my lil’ following!) and I am just not really interested in trying again, only to be suspended with no recourse or explicit explanation. Fuck this!
And yes, an internal report was filed at IG and was denied. I made a backup account (@ViolaPlease) and four days later it was also suspended. There are dozens of catfishers still up, using my images, my name, even my website and LinkTree (read my blogpost: Imposters, Catfishers, and Scammers). They are claiming to be my backup account. Please report them and don’t fall for their bullshit. The catfishers are probably why my account was reported in the first place and why I was flagged. Someone is angry at me for supposedly scamming them, even though it was likely some dude named Paul using my images as an online mask…
It’s surprising how much this has upset me and made me feel pretty discarded by the evil overlords of online industry. But not if you start to read about the effects of this sort of thing on folks. Please, read this article here: Posting Into the Void: Studying the Impact of Shadowbanning on SWers and Activists. I feel like I should have been ready for it, but I wasn’t. I liked being able to chat with colleagues and collaborators on Instagram. To post my events and classes there, my images, and to promote others in my orbit.
But what is also true: I am deeply tired of having to splay myself out online to run a business, to be self-employed, to make authentic connections. I do this so well without social media, I am really good at connecting with folks one on one. Being online is consistently vulnerable, exhausting, and sometime dangerous. But even if I wanted to avoid it, I need to ensure my inbox isn’t filled with your emails telling me you’ve been scammed by someone using my face. It’s hard to see social media as anything other than a necessary evil, one that can be pulled out from under us at any moment and one that can be used to exploit and falsify.
For now just follow @SubRosaPDX for updates, and I will likely post under my event production account @spitandglitterr but I need to revamp that account. I will work on this, it is one I own. But I won’t be posting consistent pics of me or selfies. These just get stolen.
I will also just work to be more active on Twitter, where us naughty humans have much more freedom and success. Although there are catfishers using my images on there too! You can follow me at @ViolaPlease on Twitter.