Instagram has removed Pornhub's account from its platform amid mounting pressure from anti sex trafficking campaigners.
The pornography website had used Instagram to share safe-for-work (SFW) content, but the Meta-owned social media platform appears to have removed the account for violating community guidelines.
At the time it was removed, Pornhub's Instagram had 13.1 million followers and more than 6200 posts.
Exactly which rules the account had breached have yet to be confirmed by Instagram.
Anti-Pornhub campaigner Laila Mickelwait shared screenshots that appear to show a message from Instagram to user fast.fashion.suckss confirming the action.
"Thanks for reporting pornhub's account. We've removed it from Instagram because it goes against our Community Guidelines. Reports like yours are an important part of making Instagram a safe and welcoming place for everyone," the message read.
While the move is being celebrated by campaigners, many social media users have criticised or mocked the removal of the account in their droves.
"First they came for Andrew Tate... people cheered because they hated Andrew Tate. Then they came for Pornhub, but no one spoke out because 'who cares, it's porn'. The censorship is going to keep going until they come for regular users," said a commenter on Twitter.
"Next, remove Instagram all together," is the top comment on HotNewHipHop.com's version of the story.
But Instagram is just the latest in a growing list of companies to take action against Pornhub.
Mickelwait is the founder of the #TraffickingHub campaign, which hopes to shut down Pornhub completely, accusing the website of "enabling, distributing and profiting from rape, child abuse, sex trafficking and criminal image based sexual abuse".
She released a statement on Instagram's action calling for yet more companies to crack down.
"Instagram/Meta made the right decision by cutting ties with Pornhub. Meta now joins Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Grant Thornton, Heinz, Unilever, Roku and many other companies in refusing to do business with Pornhub, a site infamous for monetizing the sex trafficking and criminal sexual abuse of countless victims including children," said Mickelwait.
"Now it's time for Google search, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Reflected Networks to follow suit. It is worth remembering that according to the US Trafficking Victim's Protection Act, it's illegal to knowingly benefit from a sex trafficking venture. Companies that continue to do so will be held accountable."
There are still active Pornhub accounts on other platforms like Twitter and YouTube.
