Instagram Deactivates KitKat Club and Insomnia
Two sex-positive nightclubs had their Instagram accounts deactivated in what one called "blatant American censorship."
Thursday, April 2
KitKat Club is one of the most famous nightclubs in Berlin, with an Instagram account of over 220K followers and the blue check mark of a verified account. Insomnia, another sex-positive club, has around 25K followers. For many of their visitors, these channels were the primary source of information on what was upcoming at the venues.
However, sometime in mid-March, both accounts were blocked, in what seems to have been a deliberate, targeted decision by Meta, the US-based company that owns Instagram. "This is blatant American censorship," Dominique, the head of Insomnia, told rbb. "We have a very strict image policy, which means that everything is covered. There are no bare breasts or genitals to be seen. It's simply people in revealing outfits having fun, dancing, and smiling playfully at the camera."
"This is blatant American censorship... You don't build 25,000 followers overnight."
The situation is particularly difficult for Insomnia, which handled advanced ticket sales and ticketing via Instagram. "You don't build 25,000 followers overnight," Dominique said.
The situation also appears to extend to other offerings within the sex-positive scene: a number of other party series, including Unity@KitKat, had their accounts suspended in recent months.
As for KitKat itself, they refused to accept the targeted takedown. "We requested immediate reinstatement," a club spokesperson said. This approach seems to have worked: their account was reinstated on Wednesday, albeit with very few posts displayed. Yet the club appears to be signalling a shift away from relying on big tech. Their first post after reinstatement read: "KitKatClub on WERZ. Join us on a new promising alternative to Big Tech social media platforms."
