I recently watched a documentary on BBC about Instagram and part of it was an interview with the Instagram whistleblower Frances Haugen. It was clear in this documentary that Instagram was detrimental to people’s mental health and that young girls were the most vulnerable, it was clear that instagram knew, but chose to actively look the other way.
I come from a background of working in an industry that preys on young women. As a young girl doing modelling I have been told to diet, strip naked, and that I wasn’t good enough, and that I would soon be too old, repeatedly by adults in an industry that chose profit over people. So much of my work in this world has been about attempting to reverse that and heal my own wounds and hopefully attempt to leave a safer world for young girls coming after me.
I struggle with the idea that I am yet again spending so much of my life being part of a machine that preys on young women.
There are many sides to this story. Instagram has allowed people a voice and it has allowed conversations that have moved us forward. But. It’s happening under the roof of a very rich American man. We are not building the platform. We are contributing our hard work and voices to his wealth on his terms.
The instagram business model wants people to stay on there as long as possible in order to sell as much advertising space as possible and pocket the money themselves. Addiction is built into their business model. Us creatives become part of this machine forever needing to create more and more content that is more and more engaging. We don’t see any money directly from Instagram and their huge adverting sales. We have to hope that we can gain enough attention to be paid in other ways.
Instagrams algorithms decide what art is worth seeing and what art isn’t. Artists are forced to create art for the app if they want their art to be seen. Some change their art actively, some resist and some change subconsciously. But we are all aware of what pieces of our art the app prefers.
I have been struggling for years with the platform and the way I have felt being on there. I have been torn. Part of me was loving the idea that I can reach so many people, part of me was feeling anxoius and caught in a scrolling loop.
My work was never accepted by the app. It was always categorised as something dirty and pornographic. I had to alter it with blurry bits to make it belong.
I understand why unregulated nudity or pornography on the internet is problematic, but Instagram is an app for people over 13 and Instagram could chose to build in filters that their users could regulate on their own like Flickr had. Rather than forcing us to live in a nipple less society. I have only recently learnt though that while Instagram say that you have to be a teenager to use the app an enormous amount of children are on there and they chose to ignore that fact - again for profit.
Instagram does currently make some exceptions to where they allow nudity. And this I believe is dangerous in it’s own way too. When we give birth or breast feed or protest we are allowed to show our nipples. This gives the message that in those moments we are not sexy, but only in those moments. All the other moments of our life we are sex objects. Also who decides what it looks like when somebody protests? Maybe my art is a protest - like so much art is.
Before Christmas I was promoting a book and an exhibition on my Instagram page and I got hit by a censorship bus. Things without nipples were removed, things which had been on there for months were removed, images of screen grabs of the censorship were removed. They cleaned up my account leaving me feeling powerless and confused. I did file complaints and some things did return, but I was still left with an extremely uncomfortable feeling. They also hid my account. This is a verified account of 80 k + followers. I do have a feeling that somebody was reporting me, but it doesn’t really make a difference as instagram were the ones doing the deleting.
I have not been able to find a way to use instagram in a way that makes sense to me. The more I learn about it the harder it gets to continue. I have not been able to find a balance with the platform. The algorithms are toxic, and they know it and I no longer want to be part of it until it’s removed. They are not transparent in their communication with their users or the world.
I have heard they are planning on letting people return to the chronological feed, and I hope that they do.
About a week ago I logged out of the app and I don’t know when or how I will return. But for now I am really enjoying my freedom.
Having your books on my shelf (and having dialogue in this space) means so much more to me than scrolling through your Instagram feed🖤
Feel connected and can absolutely follow your thoughts and doubts in order to instagram. We need more alternatives to communicate our work. I also had my fights and for now I learned to ignore the negative sides until there will be alternate platforms or until I develope new patterns and behaviour to present my work and I am ready to do without instagram. It is a shame that such a tool (instagram, facebook and others) gives us such a comfort (a necessary one) with serving digital space and hurdle free (more democratic) access to participation and a possible audience (viewers and readers) and at the same time uses its power so inappropriate. Our powerlessness towards their restrictions and rules and algorithms is swooning and I see your way with the newsletter a good way. I also was on that way two years ago but was not ready for it. I was so in love with your work for some years and will never forget the impact. Enjoy your freedom without instagram and allow yourself to come back whenever this will be. I think there is not only one way to fight that thing. Without the networks I would not have come into contact with your work when it was necessary. <3