New Criticals


'For young artists, social media presents a paradox: Instagram and Facebook are crucial for building a brand and a fan base, but they often force artists to tamper with the provocations that define their work. The six creatives we interviewed for this piece all had different takes on social media censorship, but they agreed on a few key points. All six praised the ease of use and wide reach of these platforms, and saw their careers (and in some cases, their art) inextricably bound up within them, but they also found that as their popularity increased, so did the frequency of censorship. None of them had a clear understanding of Instagram's censorship methods or saw a consistent pattern in their enforcement, and all of them were able to identify other kinds of content on Instagram that they find more offensive and destructive than nudity: violence, pro-anorexia accounts, hate speech, racism.'

How Social Media Censorship Impacts Self-Expression