X Accused of Suspending Hundreds of LGBTQ Profiles
Pink Media claims X suspended over 250 of its LGBTQ-specific accounts, prompting speculation about whether they were targeted.
The social media marketing agency Pink Media claims it has been banned on X. As of July 4, more than 250 of its accounts had been permanently suspended. The reason, however, remains unclear.
Matt Skallerud, the president of Pink Media, told Palm Springs ABC affiliate KESQ that the company’s several dozen accounts on X, including members of its #ILoveGay network, were all taken down at the same time without warning.
“I got this flood of emails from my followers, and I’m like, ‘What is happening?’ At the end of the day, we still don’t exactly know what’s going on,” he said.
In a July 9 post on Pink Media’s website, Skallerud wrote that the mass suspension was due to what X claimed was a “user report” that claimed the accounts “had broken one of the X rules.”
“Which rule we may have violated remains a mystery, but 5 days later, we are still down with no hopes of having our X profiles reinstated,” he wrote.
Brad Fuhr, CEO of radio station KGAY and the Gay Desert Guide, reportedly received a message from X telling him that several accounts he ran — including accounts dedicated to promoting LGBTQ spaces in the Coachella Valley and promoting the area as a potential attraction for tourists — had been permanently banned.
“Our digital marketing agency Oasis Marketing Group, ‘OMG PSP,‘ that one was suspended,” Fuhr told KESQ. “And then we noticed, of course, that the ‘I Love Gay Palm Springs’ account was also suspended [in addition to Gay Desert Guide]. So in one fell swoop, those three that we rely on heavily here had all been had all been taken down.”
Other accounts that were allegedly taken down include Alan Beck’s FunMaps and Visit Britain’s GayBritain account.
Skallerud said that Pink Media had “always kept it not only very positive, but very clean,” avoiding adult content or anything that was objectionable.
“We couldn’t help but to think maybe it was just because we had too much visibility,” he told KESQ. “In June, and it was Pride Month, and maybe it annoyed someone somewhere along the way that a didn’t like LGBTQ content like that being amplified in that way.”
Although Skallerud has appealed the suspensions of about 75 accounts, he hasn’t heard back from X about the possibility of getting them restored.
“From a business angle, we were hesitant to report this and put out a statement, in hopes that we would be able to recover our 250+ profiles on X from what they are calling a ‘permanent suspension,'” he wrote in his statement.
“What is interesting is that all of our profiles, including ones that were more business-focused and not part of the #ILoveGay network, and a few profiles that hadn’t been used in years, all became suspended at the same moment, which can only really be done internally by X.
“It’s suggesting that someone inside X had done their homework and that this was a well-researched and well-prepared takedown of a network of LGBTQ+ X profiles that had well over 1 million followers worldwide.”
Skallerud defended Pink Media’s decision to remain on X even after CEO Elon Musk’s takeover of the company formerly known as Twitter, which reportedly led to a deluge of hate against LGBTQ users.
Several anti-LGBTQ accounts that had previously been banned on the platform were restored and Musk temporarily lifted a longtime policy on deadnaming or misgendering other users. Musk also previously vowed to ban the word “cis” on the platform, claiming that the word “cisgender” is a slur against people whose gender identity matches their assigned sex at birth.
According to Skallerud, Pink Media stayed on the platform because it was “reaching an LGBTQ+ audience around the world that could not be reached with the same impact on Facebook, Instagram, Threads or TikTok.”
Because no reason for the suspensions has been given, the company can only speculate.
Whatever the reason for the suspensions, Skallerud wrote that “we were shut down in a way that does not feel random and was certainly not the byproduct of simply a user-generated complaint about violating X rules.”
“This was a targeted and deliberate shutdown from inside of X, of a network of LGBTQ+ profiles that had become a major part of unifying and amplifying LGBTQ+ voices across the US and around the world,” he wrote.
“Of course we’re hopeful that our #ILoveGay network on X can be restored so that we can continue to help elevate and amplify LGBTQ+ voices yet again,” Skallerud concluded.
“However, we realize that during this divisive and politically-charged year, we may have gotten too good in our reach and exposure on a platform that is owned by an individual who has made clear he would like to suppress these same LGBTQ+ voices. It might also be time to accept the fact that in this era of emboldened autocrats and big-tech kings, we’ll have to be even more creative in how we continue keep our voices alive and at the forefront now and over the next few years.”
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