To sign in the name of your organisation, please email [email protected]
➡️ View or download the letter as PDF here.
Dear Members of the Oversight Board,
We are writing to you as the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA), representing sex workers and allied organisations across Europe. This letter is an invitation - an invitation to collaborate in building a fairer, safer and more inclusive digital environment for everyone, including sex workers.
Meta-owned platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, play a vital role in the lives of sex workers. These platforms are not just tools for personal expression; they are essential intermediaries for our livelihoods, community organising, access to vital information and safety.¹
Sex workers use Instagram and Facebook to promote online content, such as subscription-based services like OnlyFans. These platforms are often the only viable channels for reaching audiences and sustaining income. WhatsApp is used for peer support, organising for better human rights, reporting unsafe clients and sharing legal and safety information. Social media can be a lifeline, especially in countries where sex work is criminalised or heavily stigmatised, by enabling sex workers to find community, communicate with peers and advocate for change.²
That is why we are so concerned about the growing pattern of harm sex workers experience on Meta-owned platforms. This letter is our attempt to share the realities of our community and to open the door to meaningful collaboration.
Sex workers, many of whom are also migrants, LGBTQIA+ people, racialised individuals, disabled people and part of other historically marginalised communities, are uniquely impacted by platform governance. Meta’s discriminatory moderation and enforcement policies not only affect sex workers. They also contribute to wider harms against adjacent communities and content types, including queer expression, sexual health education, reproductive rights and gender-based violence support. Addressing the treatment of sex workers is not a niche concern; it is central to improving equity and safety across Meta-owned platforms.
Here are some of the core issues that sex workers face on Meta-owned platforms:
1. Censorship and silencing
Sex workers are routinely censored, not for breaking the rules, but simply for speaking about our lives, organising for our human rights, or posting content that is well within your Community Guidelines. Words like "OnlyFans", “escort”, or “sex work” can trigger automated takedowns, even when used in non-sexual, educational or human rights contexts. This disproportionately affects sex workers and human rights organisations working in this field.³
2. Shadowbanning and account removal
Sex workers frequently experience shadowbanning, where posts are hidden from feeds and search results without explanation. Many have had their accounts suspended or deleted altogether, often without warning and with no meaningful route for appeal. These removals are not only distressing, they can be financially devastating and cut off access to a safety network.⁴
3. Discriminatory moderation and lack of transparency
Content moderation practices consistently fail to account for the lived realities of sex workers. Automated systems often misidentify our content, and appeals, if available, lack transparency and human oversight. These errors are not isolated incidents; they point to a systemic bias that reinforces stigma and erasure.⁵
These practices have real consequences: they endanger livelihoods, isolate communities, and perpetuate harm. The erasure of sex workers from online platforms is not a neutral act; it is an act of discrimination with material consequences.
We call on the Oversight Board and Meta to:
● Engage directly with sex workers and sex worker-led organisations, and include us in policy development, review and content moderation reform processes.
● End discriminatory content moderation practices and conduct a full audit of how policies and automated systems affect sex workers and adjacent groups.
● Establish clear, accessible and rights-based appeal processes, with human oversight and accountability mechanisms for wrongful removals.
● Ensure that words and topics related to sex work are not automatically censored, especially when used for advocacy, education, harm reduction and organising.
● Create a dedicated Oversight Board Strategic Priority focused on sexuality and sex-adjacent content, recognising that “gender” alone is insufficient to cover the breadth of issues impacting sex workers and other users posting sex-adjacent content whose digital expression, information and safety are at stake. A thematic area specific to sexuality-related governance will allow the Board to more effectively consider these cases, establish governance precedent, and guide policy development.
Additionally, we respectfully request a meeting with members of the Oversight Board and relevant Meta policy teams to begin a constructive dialogue. Our aim is to work with you in shaping platform governance that recognises and respects the realities of sex workers and the broader communities impacted by discriminatory digital policies.
Sex workers are experts in our own lives and in our own safety. We are ready to contribute, share our knowledge, and collaborate in shaping fairer digital futures.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA)
Contact information:
[email protected]
ESWA is a sex worker-led network proudly representing more than 100 organisations in 30 countries across Europe and Central Asia. Our aim is to ensure that all sex worker voices are heard and that their human, health and labour rights are recognised and protected. With our actions and approach inspired by our membership community, we work to build a strong, vibrant and sustainable network that mobilises national, regional and international advocacy activity that moves us towards long-term, systemic change.
For more information, visit: www.eswalliance.org.
Footnotes
¹ ESWA (2022) The Impact of Online Censorship and Digital Discrimination on Sex Workers, European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance. Available at: https://www.eswalliance.org/the_impact_of_online_censorship_and_digital_discrimination_on_sex_workers.
² Westenberg, J.A. (2023) ‘When social media silences sex workers, we all lose.’, Medium, 11 August. Available at: https://joanwestenberg.medium.com/when-social-media-silences-sex-workers-we-all-lose-203341e5fe87 (Accessed: 7 April 2025).
³ Davisson, A. and Alati, K. (2024) ‘“Difficult to Just Exist”: Social Media Platform Community Guidelines and the Free Speech Rights of Sex Workers’, Social Media + Society, 10(1), p. 20563051231224270. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224270.
⁴ Blunt, D. and Wolf, A. (2020) ‘Erased: The impact of FOSTA-SESTA and the removal of Backpage on sex workers’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220148.
⁵ Are, C. (2023) ‘“Dysfunctional” appeals and failures of algorithmic justice in Instagram and TikTok content moderation’, Information, Communication & Society, 0(0), pp. 1–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2396621.
