Censorship on Twitter and Instagram is costing sex workers who sell adult content hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and is depriving them of the stability and equity needed to build successful businesses, according to a new internal study conducted by Centro University.

The CentroU study estimates that account closures cost independent adult content creators $259M globally in 2020, and that a sex worker whose Twitter or Instagram account was shutdown experienced an average loss of $30,350.

“Social media censorship isn’t some theoretical issue for adult influencers, it robs them of huge amounts of income,” says FanCentro VP Kat Revenga. “The majority of adult influencers are small business owners who use the income to pay rent and put food on the table, and the arbitrary closure of an account can be devastating, depriving them of tens of thousands of dollars.”

About half (46%) of the adult influencers surveyed by Centro University had had one or more of their Twitter or Instagram accounts shutdown in the past year. And nearly 1 in 10 (8.7%) suffered the closure of both. In most cases, the influencers say they could not identify where they’d violated the terms of service, and were given no opportunity to correct or appeal.

By speaking with adult influencers, and incorporating broader internal metrics on fan retention, lifetime value, and social acquisition, the study was able to predict a 60% decline in income of an adult influencer in the months following an account closure.

On average, the study found it took at least 36 months for a sex worker to recover from the loss of income from one banned account, while acknowledging that recovery rates vary depending on the size of the social following, name recognition, and the existence of parallel communities on other platforms.

By applying this model industrywide, and factoring in related social risks like shadowbans and temporary lockouts, the study estimates that social media censorship costs sex workers nearly $260 million dollars a year — and likely much more.

“These platforms need to realize that an adult influencer who loses their account suffers years of financial damage,” says Revenga. “We were conservative in our estimates, looking only at the effect on one platform and anticipating fairly steady regrowth. In reality, many sex workers struggle to rebuild their audiences after a ban, and many give up entirely rather than risk a future deplatforming.

“Social media has enabled a new generation of independent adult influencers to thrive, and to own what they produce, but the true power rests with the social media companies. Their arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is costing an already marginalized population hundreds of millions of dollars a year.”

To help keep sex workers safe online, Centro University will be hosting an exclusive conversation with Adult Performance Artists Guild President Alana Evans and members of APAG’s Board and legal counsel on May 12, 2021 at 2PM ET. APAG has been in direct conversations with Instagram and Twitter over their censorship of sex workers, and in many cases has been able to help get accounts reinstated.