Janice Morse
NAME: Janice Morse
PLATFORM & USERNAME: Insta – @janicemorseportraits
CENSORSHIP: Ads are never approved and Content Ban
What reason was given for your ban?
Nudity.
Why do you think your post(s) was censored?
I’m honestly not sure considering that I see ads with lots of nudity and my photos aren’t even nudes!
Apparently, FB and IG don’t like women or maybe they don’t like artists. I find it interesting that I can’t use a pregnant woman in my ads if any skin shows … but FashionNova has them almost nude in all their ads and posts. I have the same issue with Google Business. They have literally not allowed me to make posts of a pregnant woman covered in fabric. I won’t even get into my boudoir stuff because I get thrown in FB jail for those. I was in jail for a week for giving someone the name of a book that contained the word “bitch”.
They make it very difficult to advertise what I shoot. I feel like mine is a case of EXTREME censorship and what happens when they just let an algorithm decide. This goes for social media and google. Google has not allowed me to post images to my Google Business page because (I can only assume) I’m using a peach fabric that is close to SOME skin-tones.
Were you able to appeal and what was the response?
Yes but no response.
What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?
I hate social media and don’t advertise on it. I know it’s a great tool for some businesses but I find it very difficult in the boudoir genre. It also makes me feel like I’m being left out of the “new world of advertising”.
As a maternity and boudoir photographer I’ve had so many images rejected for ads that I stopped trying. We all know that IG and FB advertising is HUGE and I can’t participate,
at least not with MY STYLE of art. I have to show what they WANT me to or ALLOW me to and that’s not what I want to photograph so it makes it pointless for me. It’s sad. I thought ART was ART, an expression. But who’s expression is it really if it’s not fully mine because I have to factor in what’s “allowed” by outside sources? Now it’s no longer MY expression or MY art.
What’s one thing you want people to know about this topic?
Art should never be censored!!!!!!