Why I am leaving Livejournal
A few days ago, my journal was permanently suspended by Livejournal. As you can tell, that decision has since been reversed.
I was not given any warning for the deletion. I simply received a very cold email from Livejournal informing me that my journal had been permanently suspended because some of the interests in my interests list apparently "expressed an interest in, or encouraged illegal activities." I was told this was a violation of the Terms of Service.
I was told that listing "pedophilia" as one of my interests was the reason for my journal being permanently suspended. I was told that my journal would not be restored, and that I would never be welcome to use Livejournal again, because I had listed "pedophilia" as one of my interests.
As of today, my journal was restored, out of the blue. I read a post from the CEO of Livejournal, who said that approximately 500 journals had been deleted, and when thousands of Livejournal users reacted with outrage, they decided to review what they had done, and restored about half of the journals.
This is my understanding of what happened: An anti-pedophile group called Warriors for Innocence contacted all of the companies who advertise on Livejournal. They told them that Livejournal hosted content that encouraged and supported pedophilia and child molestation. They told the companies that they should pressure Livejournal to delete all of the journals with such content, or else they would start a public campaign to inform the public that these advertisers were comfortable advertising on a site that supports pedophilia. So, the advertisers went to Livejournal, and threatened to pull all their advertising unless Livejournal took action.
Livejournal began to delete all journals that listed "pedophilia" as an interest. This includes all communities that were dedicated to fictional sexual stories involving children, communities dedicated to survivors of child sexual abuse, and journals of people who are law abiding pedophiles, as well as people like myself who have a passionate academic interest in pedophilia (I am a sociology student, for goodness sake!).
There was a huge public outcry from Livejournal users over this issue. They expressed shock and disgust that Livejournal would censor free speech to such a degree. Livejournal had always had a very liberal policy regarding freedom of speech and expression. That is, until the advertisers threatened to pull their advertising, which would result in a huge loss of money for Livejournal.
When Livejournal realized how upset they had made their users, they decided to review all of the journals that they had suspended, and restored the ones that clearly did not encourage illegal activity. Mine was one of them, of course.
I feel incredibly shocked that it was even thinkable for Livejournal to take this action. It just reminds me how much people are unwilling to question social norms. The very fact that someone could be interested in pedophilia, and what it is, and why it is, and what it means, makes them someone who does not deserve a voice. It makes them someone that can justifiably be silenced.
This incident has only reaffirmed my desire to educate society about sexuality and to help people question social norms. Why are things the way they are? Are popular views about sexuality helpful or harmful?
I will no longer be using the service provided by Livejournal. I felt the need to make this post so that you would all know what happened, and why I am leaving. I do not feel comfortable using the service of such a prejudiced company. I will be keeping my online journal somewhere else, and when I find an acceptable alternative, I will let you know where to find it. I encourage you all to write to Livejournal and tell them how disappointed you are with their decision to censor personal expression and academic discussion.
I was not given any warning for the deletion. I simply received a very cold email from Livejournal informing me that my journal had been permanently suspended because some of the interests in my interests list apparently "expressed an interest in, or encouraged illegal activities." I was told this was a violation of the Terms of Service.
I was told that listing "pedophilia" as one of my interests was the reason for my journal being permanently suspended. I was told that my journal would not be restored, and that I would never be welcome to use Livejournal again, because I had listed "pedophilia" as one of my interests.
As of today, my journal was restored, out of the blue. I read a post from the CEO of Livejournal, who said that approximately 500 journals had been deleted, and when thousands of Livejournal users reacted with outrage, they decided to review what they had done, and restored about half of the journals.
This is my understanding of what happened: An anti-pedophile group called Warriors for Innocence contacted all of the companies who advertise on Livejournal. They told them that Livejournal hosted content that encouraged and supported pedophilia and child molestation. They told the companies that they should pressure Livejournal to delete all of the journals with such content, or else they would start a public campaign to inform the public that these advertisers were comfortable advertising on a site that supports pedophilia. So, the advertisers went to Livejournal, and threatened to pull all their advertising unless Livejournal took action.
Livejournal began to delete all journals that listed "pedophilia" as an interest. This includes all communities that were dedicated to fictional sexual stories involving children, communities dedicated to survivors of child sexual abuse, and journals of people who are law abiding pedophiles, as well as people like myself who have a passionate academic interest in pedophilia (I am a sociology student, for goodness sake!).
There was a huge public outcry from Livejournal users over this issue. They expressed shock and disgust that Livejournal would censor free speech to such a degree. Livejournal had always had a very liberal policy regarding freedom of speech and expression. That is, until the advertisers threatened to pull their advertising, which would result in a huge loss of money for Livejournal.
When Livejournal realized how upset they had made their users, they decided to review all of the journals that they had suspended, and restored the ones that clearly did not encourage illegal activity. Mine was one of them, of course.
I feel incredibly shocked that it was even thinkable for Livejournal to take this action. It just reminds me how much people are unwilling to question social norms. The very fact that someone could be interested in pedophilia, and what it is, and why it is, and what it means, makes them someone who does not deserve a voice. It makes them someone that can justifiably be silenced.
This incident has only reaffirmed my desire to educate society about sexuality and to help people question social norms. Why are things the way they are? Are popular views about sexuality helpful or harmful?
I will no longer be using the service provided by Livejournal. I felt the need to make this post so that you would all know what happened, and why I am leaving. I do not feel comfortable using the service of such a prejudiced company. I will be keeping my online journal somewhere else, and when I find an acceptable alternative, I will let you know where to find it. I encourage you all to write to Livejournal and tell them how disappointed you are with their decision to censor personal expression and academic discussion.