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WomanOnTheEdge's avatar

It's the right thing to do Sarah.

Every time someone does this, it regains rights that many aren't aware they've lost.

Every case makes us all stronger.

It's a shame in a way that Bristol University Students Union gave up in advance of the case brought by Women Talk Back (Raquel Rosario Sanchez) but I think their capitulation still creates a precedent.

I'll donate what I can.

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Pearl Red Moon's avatar

Hi Sarah, supporting and following your issue. I bought the book too.

This is the experience I’m currently going through – Australia was having a federal election in May 2022 and I posted support on my Instagram page for conservative candidate Kath Deves, who was being beleaguered in the media due to her Gender Critical views. In the text I suggested to followers that if they were interested to learn more about trans gender ideology they could visit my Pinterest board called Gender Critical, where I had amassed nearly 500 links over 4 years. All of the material was perfectly legitimate (nothing illegal or shonky) comprising of links to newspaper articles, journals, Substacks, YouTube channels, TV stations, et al. Material put out by people like Jordan Peterson, James Lindsay, Matt Walsh, Kara Dansky, Mr Menno, Graham Linehan, Abigail Shrier, Kellie Jay Keen, Barry Wall, Maria MacLachlan, GB News, etc.

A week later I got a notice that the board had been removed due to infringing community standards and constitutng “hate speech”. I was warned if I did it again, even posting the content to a secret board, the material would be removed again and my account shut down. I have had a Pinterest acct for 11 years and nothing like this has ever happened before.

I am also what is described as a “Verified Merchant” (VM) meaning that my online Shopify store crossposts to their platform so that the products I sell are shown on a merchant page. I sell PDF sewing patterns and hand beaded earrings which are made by me as an artisan. Being a VM means the regular image content I post to Pinterest links to that product page if any user clicks on it. I applied for and gained VM status 3 years ago and Pinterest is my best internet referrer for sales. Currently I have 13,700+ followers on Pinterest.

Because I was furious, and are more ethically idealistic than a pragmatic capitalist I immediately started another board called “Gender Woo Woo” which has only a measly 90 links currently. I also made 90% of my boards secret so as to slow down accumulating followers.

On February 1st another notice appeared on my account that Pinterest is revoking my VM status at the end of this month effectively closing the crosslinking of content to my online store. They explained revocation is due to multiple complaints which cannot be specified other than that I have failed to provide “shopping experience quality”. A sham process was provided to assist me to get back into compliance.

What adds insult to injury is that I have no control over the content I’ve contributed to their platform over 11 years. There is no copyright recourse at all to withdraw any of my images and YT videos that contribute to their growth and success. I can only try to prevent any future material I generate (which I do all the time because I’m an artist) getting into their control with flimsy apps attached the individual content prior to uploading.

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