THE UNSEEN
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Lena lemáine

NAME: Lena lemáine
CENSORSHIP: Content ban

What reason was given for your ban?

Gore/Violence/Nudity

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

My fashion designs are wrongfully mistaken as real blood/gore rather than SFX, art and fashion – even when I explicitly state otherwise. TikTok especially pushes a ‘family-friendly’ narrative that consistently blocks my work, shadow bans my account or removes my content. It’s a nightmare for creatives like myself who aren’t interested in being ‘family-friendly’.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

I have had multiple posts taken down, all of which I’ve appealed. I’ve only ever had 1 post re-instated so 9/10 I just loose my content.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

As an independent artist it’s very hard to promote my work and gain a larger audience when there’s so much censorship around explicit content. I’d like to push further boundaries with my content and explore body horror as an artist, however if my account gets banned or taken down I’ll loose the entirety of my income. I’m very reliant on social media so I find myself conforming my art to their strict guidelines even when I’d rather not.

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

Art is allowed to be ‘un-family friendly’ and not all social media content is directed towards those who are underage. Artists who make content for other adults should be freely allowed to post that content without fear of having their methods of income taken away.