Sex workers worry that Threads could kill their business

For many, the arrival of Threads, Meta’s new microblogging platform killer, has been hailed as a welcome savior from Elon Musk’s glitch-ridden Twitter. But it’s a different story for sex workers, for whom Threads is a step backwards in terms of visibility and support.

Sex powers a surprisingly large proportion of Twitter. One in eight posts on the platform are adult NSFW content, according to Reuters. For sex workers, Musk’s company presents a way to drum up business and build up a client base.

Meta, by comparison, is often far less friendly to sex workers. It has historically banned “female presenting nipples” and nudity of all types where other platforms have been more permissive. A 2020 policy change made more explicit the inability for creators to link to sexual content on Meta platforms. Pornhub has previously said Instagram discriminates against sex workers. And just last month, the Meta-owned Instagram incorrectly banned—and later reinstated—around four dozen sex-related Instagram accounts, many of which are focused around sex education, rather than sexual content. (Meta did not immediately respond to a request to comment.)

Ashley, a sex worker advocate who declined to share her last name for fear of online retaliation, worries that Instagram’s habit for overzealous moderation will also become an issue with Threads. “I imagine it will be similarly as difficult as it is to operate on Instagram,” she says. “It’ll be impossible for sex workers to build stability and a reliable community.” And considering that Threads received as many downloads in seven hours as Twitter did in two-plus years, that could spell big trouble for sex workers. (Threads’ Terms of Use inherits those of Instagram’s by default, including its approach to nudity and soliciting sex.)

Many have already raised concerns about what happens to conversations around sex in a Meta-controlled social media universe. “For sex workers, adult content creators or nude creators, or sex positive creators, this is not going to be the safe haven it is for a lot of other people,” says Carolina Are, innovation fellow at the Center for Digital Citizens. “If Twitter dies and Threads takes over . . . I don’t think Meta is going to review the community guidelines when it comes to nudity any time soon.”

The likelihood of Threads replacing Twitter may seem theoretical, but it appears Musk himself is spooked by the rise of the Meta app: Already, Twitter has threatened to sue Meta for stealing its concept of a microblogging platform.

Social media platforms have long been a way that sex workers can find work. On Twitter, sex workers and content creators are able to direct users off-platform to adult websites like OnlyFans. On Meta platforms, that becomes much trickier because of a more draconian approach to content moderation.

The problem stems back to the 2018 passage of the FOSTA-SESTA laws, which wrongfully equated sex work with sex trafficking. That, combined with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which regulates digital platforms including websites and apps, put a huge onus on tech platforms to ensure they weren’t hosting sexual content that could fall foul of FOSTA-SESTA. 

Meta’s own Oversight Board criticized the company for its policy on female nudity in January 2023, suggesting that, as designed, it may not respect international human rights standards by discriminating on the basis of sex or gender. The board also highlighted that uncertainty over guidance on the company’s sexual solicitation community standard was causing confusion and “enforcement errors on Meta’s part” against people who do not breach the rules. 

Threads’ incredible rise, packing on 30 million users in 24 hours, leaves those selling sex with a conundrum: Do they follow the crowds onto Threads and risk being banned? Or do they sit it out and watch their existing driver of business wilt away into nothing? “It just seems like it’d be crazy to build a large community on Threads when it’s so hostile,” says Ashley, the sex worker advocate.

But at the same time, she admits, it’s likely many will try. Because that’s how they pay the bills.