AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST, I detail a step-by-step process for joining Mastodon and Friendica. I will publish these sections as a standalone post later, but for now, if you’re an independent self-promoting worker in the adult entertainment and services industry, or a supporter, and you want to know WHY moving to a fediverse platform like Mastodon or Friendica is critical for combating social media censorship, read on!
The dark specter of internet censorship is once again threatening the livelihoods and security of independent, self-promoting individuals in the adult entertainment and services industry.
This summer, Twitter quietly updated their terms of service, and in January they will start enforcing broad new rules against NSFW content, which will include all NSFW video, adult profile pics, and any depiction of “semen.” This could endanger the livelihoods of adult models, sex workers, and other people who generate their living from the sex work and adult entertainment industry.
And the potentially catastrophic knock-on is that when you do regularly post “adult” content, you have to put your entire account behind the interstitial veil by marking it “sensitive,” meaning that everything you tweet (adult or not) is blocked with a warning label.
…Twitter is an essential organizing tool. It was where sex workers protested Prop 60 (which would have required porn performers to wear condoms) and raised alarms about FOSTA/SESTA and get together to spread safety information. Getting shut down, even temporarily, means you’re broken from the web of potentially hundreds of thousands of followers cultivated after years of dutiful posting, who help to spread your message. Journalists know that this is how most sex work stories break, and it’s the only platform where the subjects of our stories are starting the conversations.
Whitney Kimball, Gizmodo
We can see the seeds of a full NSFW ban being sewn in the new terms of service, as per the DailyDot.
While adult content is still allowed, Twitter warns that any accounts “dedicated to posting sensitive media” may face a permanent suspension if sensitive content accounts for the “majority of your activity on Twitter.” Taken to its logical conclusion, this could turn into a broader ban on NSFW content.
Ana Valens, The Daily Dot.
A Cat and Mouse Game
A year ago when Tumblr, under their new Yahoo ownership, moved to ban all NSFW content, models who use social media to promote their work, were forced to find new outlets to advertise. Many had moved to Twitter from Instagram, so soon finding themselves yet again on the hunt for a new home, after “anti-porn” censorship had taken root there, to the chagrin of potato-lovers everywhere. Twitter was thought to be the last bastion for free speech in the social media world.
But like Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook before, Twitter is a private corporate owned entity, subject to sweeping rule-changes at the whims of it’s C-Suite bosses beholden to their stockholders, regulators and advertisers. Any private social media platform wholly owned by a single entity could potentially face this same problem, sending adult models on the hunt over and over again, chased around the internet from one platform to the next.
Internet censorship is a major problem for everyone, and every last internet user should be wary of it, but it can have devastating effects on independent, self-promoting people in the adult entertainment and services industry. Every time the terms of service change for one of these platforms, vaguely excluding “adult” material, and the censorship and banning crackdowns start, adult models are forced to start over from scratch on another social network. This means lost followers, loss of exposure, and confusion.
I’m not here to debate whether or not people should be making their living this way. The fact is that they are, and for many sex workers and adult models, self-promotion on social media and self-publishing is a way to safely keep control of their own careers, and reduce the need for sketchy third party “agents” who often take advantage of these workers in huge ways. A free and open internet is the enemy of the dangerous pimp and the exploitative production studio. If this kind of work is going to happen — and it is the world’s oldest profession, so we know it’s going to — things that improve safety and security for the workers in this industry are good, and things that push them toward these exploiters are bad. And when another social network shuts the doors on adult models self-promoting, that’s a win for the pimps and producers who leech off their work.
These corporate entities are under pressure as well. Stockholders don’t want investments in their portfolio to be associated with these industries, and regulators and advertisers put the business model in jeopardy when there is extra scrutiny on a company.
So let’s remove the company.
Take Control of your Own Identity Online — IT BELONGS TO YOU AFTERALL!
I have written before about The Fediverse [1] [2] [3]. Briefly, the Fediverse is a nickname for a collection of free and open-source publishing platforms that are not owned by any one entity, and therefore not subject to the same pressures and Tumblr or a Twitter on, allowing full freedom of speech for users. This could finally provide a true safe-haven for self-promoting, independent individuals in the adult entertainment and services industry.
Each of these platforms works because all the users in the platform use software that shares the same communication protocol. So while my profile and timeline lives on this server, and your profile and timeline lives on that server, the software both our profiles use speaks the same language, and when you update your profile–let’s say post a provocative teaser video for your latest full-length film–it tells the world and my timeline is updated with your new info, as is the timelines of EVERYONE following you on this platform. Likewise, when I update my profile–let’s say posting a glowing review of your new film–the software communicates that to the world, and your timeline is updated, as well as the timelines of every user following me.
For adult models and sex workers, this means each of these platforms performs, essentially, just like Twitter or Instagram or Facebook. You can network with fans and update them when there is news or new content to point them too. But unlike Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, the looming threat of having content removed or having your account suspended or banned is monumentally reduced or even eliminated (I’ll get to that later).
Because the software for the platform is free, open-source, and volunteer community developed, nobody owns it. It’s just out there, and anyone can use the code. Instead of just being a wholly owned walled garden “network” of profiles with a single “space” provider, each of these platforms is a federated true network of independent “space” providers. And anyone can become a “space” provider on one of these platforms, as long as they have their own server and the software. However, most people aren’t going to have the coding background nor the resources to set up their own server and run this software, so luckily, there are THOUSANDS of benevolent server hosts out there who allow new users to set up profiles on their servers to join the network.
However, keep in mind, if you are an adult model who TRULY wants full control over your content, you’re going to want to own your own server. If an adult model joins a server, and the owner of that server decides later they want to ban profiles living on their server from sharing NSFW content, they’re back in the same cycle again. However, now they own their own content, and they can just take their profile and all their content over to a new server, picking up where they left off (except not necessarily with the same followers which is a HUGE problem, I’ll get to that later). That said, these tiny providers are under MUCH less scrutiny than a behemoth like Twitter or Tumblr, and are unlikely to make such a change based on external pressure. These incidents are unheard of now, but they are THEORETICALLY possible if you are NOT running your own server, but using someone else’s. Not to mention, running your own server takes time, coding knowledge, electricity and equipment cost, so maybe for now, just join through a free host, and consider getting your own server if you find success on the platform.
The Difficulty of Ownership
Though they answer the problem of changing rules infringing on an adult model’s independence and free speech, these platforms have a HUGE con: the barriers to entry for novice users.
Instead of having one single owner of the whole network with one single sign in page, each server is going to have it’s own sign-up and set-up process for joining, and this can be a barrier to entry. If you want a Twitter profile, you just have to go to twitter.com, and sign up. If an adult model hoping to promote their work on a social media platform without censorship wants a profile on one of the Fediverse platforms, however, they need to know how to find a server–if they’re not setting up their own– and they need to apply to join that server and get approved, before they can start setting up their profile. And with each platform this process can be different. And because there is no central ownership, finding a server that fits your needs is a bit opaque. At the bottom of this post, however, I will go step-by-step into setting up a profile on all of the most popular fediverse platforms, Mastodon and Friendica.
Because the barrier to entry for the adult model is high, that barrier to their potential followers is equally as high. Let’s face it, most of your Twitter followers are NOT on Mastodon or Friendica, and many of those that aren’t are NOT going to follow you over there because of this barrier to entry. It’s still going to take time to build up a new following. Possibly even more time than when you moved from Instagram to Tumblr and from Tumblr to Twitter. Not only do you have to say “please follow me over to Mastodon,” you’re also going to have to figure out how to walk your followers through the process and convince them it’s worth it for them.
But if they DO follow you over to a fediverse platform, it will definitely be worth it for you, because the dance of moving from social network to social network over censorship will officially end.
Another problem with this independent federated system that pops up is the potential loss of all your information if something goes wrong. A server is just a computer all your data lives on. And computers have problems and lose their data all the time. You’ve had computers die, get viruses or get stolen before, that same thing could happen to a server. At Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, they have layers of redundant backup servers, and the same data can live on dozens and dozens of computers so that if one goes down, the next one in line can jump in without ever being noticed. The chances of one of your free server offerings having redundant backups like that is low. It’s free after all. So if the owner of that server loses their server for any reason, or just decides to shut down without warning, you’ve lost everything. However, if you back up your profile data regularly, you can take it to a new server then.
That said, the network works by looking for a particular profile on a particular server. If you save your data and take it to a new server, your data will be safe, but you will have to start fresh with followers which sucks. Because they’ve followed you on a particular server. And if your profile is no longer at that server, then they don’t follow you anymore. If you self-host your own server, while it will cost even more, and take even more technical wizardry, you can create redundant servers to fill in if that server goes down or loses data, which will eliminate this problem. But again, that’s quite an investment, and you may want to be sure you know for sure this is the system that works best for promoting your work before you commit.
The bottom line
Long story short, there is a lot of extra work and frustration on the front end of switching to a fediverse network like Mastodon or Friendica. But if you get the followers the payoff of having full ownership and freedom forever, and never having to scramble to set up a new presence on social media from scratch again because of censorship is priceless.
How to Join Mastodon
Mastodon is a microblogging network like Twitter, but it’s free and open-source. The developers have released the code to the software publicly for free so anyone can set up a Mastodon server and start setting up profiles on the network. If you’re not setting up your own server, here is how you can get on Mastodon using an existing server accepting new signups in FIVE steps.
- Go to joinmastodon.org
- Click “Get Started.”
3. Select your language and let the list refresh — optionally you can select an interest like LGBTQ, Regional, Activism or Gaming.
4. Cards will appear describing each server in your category and language. Select one that looks good and click “Join,” and you will be redirected to that server’s sign-up page in a new tab.
5. Fill in the information and you will receive an email with instructions for logging in and setting up your profile. Tweet me at @ReallyPhilReese your Mastodon profile info and I’ll add you. You can also add me on Mastodon, once you’re signed up.
How to join Friendica
Friendica is a free and open-source social network akin to Facebook, (the old) myspace, MeWe, Ello, etc. Users can create and expand an elaborate central profile page, and post content as status updates, which can then be read in the newsfeed of anyone who is following them. If you’re not setting up your own server, here is how you can join an existing instance of Friendica on a server accepting new users in SEVEN steps.
- Go to Friendi.ca.
- Hover over “Use It” or select it from menu
- Click “Find a Server”
4. Select “public services” under “Find a server.”
5. Look for a server using a language you are fluent in. This is because the setup process will be delivered in that language. If you don’t speak German, don’t select a server whose language is listed as Deutsch. Then click “Visit Server,” and you will be redirected to that server’s log-in page.
The little boxes at the top of each little card tell you about the “health” of the server next to a heart icon (100 means it doesn’t have noticeable downtime), the number of users on the server, if they’re running a current stable version of Friendica, and who the admin is. This information isn’t THAT important, but I caution you to select a server with 100 next to the heart running a stable version if you want less headaches in the future.
6. Depending on this particular server owner’s preferences, this page may look a little different on each server, but basically find the “Register” button and click it.
7. The registration page on each server may also look different, but fill out all the required info, and make sure you want to be listed PUBLICLY in the member directory. That way, people can find you when they join Friendica. Then accept the terms and send. Now you wait for an email with confirmation and instructions for logging in and setting up your profile. Check your spam.
And that’s it. It’s only 7 simple steps, but knowing you have to find a server, and then anxiety over selecting which server can be a bit of a barrier. Once past that, though, it’s just like signing up for any old network. If you set up a new Friendica account, tweet me your address at @ReallyPhilReese, and I’ll make sure to follow you. You can also add me on Friendica, once you’re signed up.