Anti-sex trafficking advocate disappointed as Instagram reinstates Pornhub account hours after ban

MONTREAL — Pornhub’s Instagram account was removed from the platform on June 16 after a post was reported by a user for “nudity or sexual activity,” only to be reinstated the following morning. The user was sent a notification from Instagram saying it was removing the Pornhub account because of a violation of “community guidelines.” The contents of the reported post are unconfirmed at this time. News of the pornography giant’s deplatforming was shared via Twitter by anti-trafficking advocate Laila Mickelwait, founder of Traffickinghub, a group dedicated to exposing sexual exploitation on Pornhub.  “I went to the Instagram Pornhub account, following the official link through Google, and it was gone. 12.5 million followers on the account and it had been completely disabled,” said Mickelwait in an interview with CTV. But by the next morning, the account was back online. “I know a lot of advocates aren’t happy about that, and they’re contacting Instagram to have them reinstate that ban,” Michelwait added. When questioned why the account was removed from Instagram and subsequently restored, a spokesperson for parent-company Facebook said only that the “account was removed in error and has now been restored.” Facebook, which acquired Instagram in 2012, has yet…
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