Adult performers are protesting Instagram for deleting their accounts Light Rocket / Getty Images

Members of the Adult Performers Actors Guild say that Instagram has unfairly deleted their accounts.

„They discriminate against us because they don’t like what we do for a living,“ Alana Evans, president of the guild, told BBC. Guild members say that they are held to a stricter standard than other users.

Instagram says that the accounts were deleted for violating community standards, and some have been reinstated.

Instagram’s parent company Facebook has also been criticized recently for unevenly applying rules, exempting political ads from fact-checking.

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Over 1,000 adult performers are accusing Instagram of unfairly deleting their post and accounts, Thomas Fabbri at BBC first reported.

Members of the Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG) say that their posts and sometimes entire accounts were deleted for violating community standards, although they say they didn’t post any nudity or sexual content.

The performers‘ take issue with what they see as Instagram’s unequal enforcement of rules.

„I should be able to model my Instagram account on Sharon Stone or any other verified profile, but the reality is that doing that would get me deleted,“ guild president Alana Evans told BBC. „They discriminate against us because they don’t like what we do for a living.“

Director Erika Lust pointed out a double standard, that male celebrities especially have much more leeway posting suggestive content.

„The Dan Bilzerians of the world are free to keep sending their misogynistic message that women are only accessories to their lavish lifestyle,“ Lust told BBC. „When Dan posts a picture using a naked woman as a table to rest his trophy, he’s not censored.“

Instagram’s community guidelines are also unclear about exactly what is allowed. According to the company, nudity is not allowed — „this includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples.“

Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told BBC that „with such a globally diverse community, we have to put rules in place around nudity and sexual solicitation to ensure content is appropriate for everyone, particularly young people.“

The newest version of Facebook’s community standards also prohibits „commonly sexual emojis,“ leaving the decision up to moderators about when an emoji is allowed or not.

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Facebook has recently been criticized for uneven application of rules in other areas as well, and it has struggled to moderate speech. The company said that it would exempt political ads from fact-checking, which has been denounced by presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has defended the policy despite its apparent unpopularity — he says the exception for political ads promotes the „marketplace of ideas,“ as people can see for themselves what politicians are saying.