Divya Maniar

NAME: Divya Maniar
CENSORSHIP: Content Ban

What reason was given for your ban?

Nudity and Sexual content.

Why do you think your post(s) was censored?

Pole dancing, regardless of the fact that I was wearing a t-shirt.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

Yes but the appeal failed.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

I found it very demoralising and alienating; it happened just as the video was starting to go viral and it felt very unfair that my visibility was taken from me over content that was harmless. It also felt very disempowering. There is something very uncanny about how the algorithm speaks opaquely over individual agency and choice, and how there are so few human channels by which to plead one’s case.

What’s one thing you want people to know about this topic?

More empathy and humanity should be applied to internet moderation.