LOS ANGELES — The Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG) has released a statement announcing their plan to create "an arbitration claim for each worker, a legal claim against Instagram for wrongfully deleting our workers."
This is the statement from APAG:
Recently, we began our steps toward arbitration with Instagram, filing an initial case to test the process and begin the legal fight. While the negotiation process was happening between our lawyer and Instagram’s lawyer, the Bella Thorne issue with Onlyfans occurred, giving our lawyer the opportunity to address the concern over celebrity privilege versus the average citizen. The entire world watched as Bella bragged over earning more than $2 million dollars on OnlyFans while openly using Instagram as her only means of advertising. For the first time, we had an opportunity to put a dollar amount on the potential losses performers are experiencing by not being given the same advertising abilities as celebrities on Instagram.
Over the last year-and-a-half, the evidence has grown into a mountain of naked images and OnlyFans ads posted by celebrities, while performers have been deleted and banned for far less. In this short time, we have collected over 2,000 different workers wrongfully removed from IG and it is time to move this army forward.
Our next step in this plan of action is to create an arbitration claim for each worker, a legal claim against Instagram for wrongfully deleting our workers. To join the action and move forward, we ask that you complete the form at the link below. This information will be used to acknowledge your request for arbitration and that you are giving our legal team permission to move forward with a complaint on your behalf. As each case is accepted, you will be notified.
Why arbitration?
A clause in Instagram’s TOS that you agree to when signing up for their services is that you will agree to resolve any legal issues with them via arbitration that they pay for.
How does arbitration work?
Once your claim is filed, Instagram will have to pay for the arbitration process. This means an arbiter (an outside legal party) will examine the case, hear from both sides and make a decision. Instagram is legally required to pay for the arbiter and any travel needed to appear for the case, etc.
Can we sue?
The reason we are moving forward with arbitration is because it is a forced process step, thanks to Instagram's TOS. We will be filing over 2,000 arbitration cases at once, potentially forcing IG into court to handle all 2,000 cases at once. This is how we fight for our right to sue.
Instagram is a private company, they can do what they want
This is not correct. In California, we have what is called the Unruh Act. It is a civil rights act that prevents a company or business from being able to discriminate against someone based on their race, color, religion, sex or age. This particular law makes it so that you do not have to be an actual customer to establish discrimination. A recent California Supreme Court ruling stated this law also applies to online businesses. While 'occupation' is not technically listed as a discriminatory factor, recent legal cases have established occupational discrimination is just as protected as the items listed.
What do you do now?
Complete the form at the link [on the APAG website], and give us time to draft the complaints. There are more than 2,000 of you that are part of this and we will have to work through each application. With that said, we appreciate your patience and we thank you for being part of this fight for our rights.
Find the link on the APAG page here and follow the group on Twitter.
