She previously won a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film – and received nominations for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
”For instance, we have a lesser focus on things like sex toys but more on hygiene or myths. We also changed our graphics to be a little more abstract since flagging algorithms don’t categorize those as nudity,” Sharma told CNN. Changing how we phrased the same content made a difference and also made it easier to appeal in case posts were restricted.
After getting posts removed on Facebook and Instagram in 2018 and 2020 respectively, the founder of India-based sex-ed foundation Pratisandhi, Niyati Sharma, said her organization had to shift to a more creative approach to content that moved away from ”graphic diagrams or explicit imagery related to sexuality” to ones that are more educational, and focused more on prevention and protection, she said.
As such, social media platforms have in effect become what one United Nations agency called “gatekeepers of crucial SRH (sexual and reproductive health) information,” who “withhold important educational content that is arbitrarily classified as sexually explicit”, to the detriment of the young people.
“Like, OK, I need to use this platform. If no human being can fix this for me and I’m reliant on automated solutions, then my best bet is to just delete [content].” “There’s a sense of acceptance, right?” Mangaldas said.
CNN spoke with six young people across the region who are largely deprived of formal sex education, who told CNN that they are afraid of making ill-informed decisions about their sexuality, sexual practices or how to protect themselves in abusive sexual situations because of this censorship. Caught in the crosshairs of the platforms’ attempts to address the proliferation of harmful content around sex, tutor homeschool students educators’ posts are being pushed behind sensitivity filters and inaccurately considered to be pornographic material, according to the content creators.
She began posting on YouTube in 2017, just as India’s #Metoo movement was starting and ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision the following year to decriminalize homosexuality, she said. When you loved this article and you would like to receive more information about Kids on the Yard generously visit the web page. Mangaldas told CNN she earns her living from paid partnerships with corporations and international non-profit organizations on her social media platforms, as well as from a recently founded sexual wellbeing brand.
”Abortion content has historically always been censored on Meta platforms globally, and the overturning of Roe v Wade just made things go from bad to worse,” Gopalakrishnan said. “In general, it is our experience that Meta policies are more reflective of current US political affairs than the local legislative and cultural contexts of the countries they serve.”
Indeed, efforts by the central government to introduce a national sex education curriculum in 2005, 2007 and 2016 were met with opposition from several states who said it undermined Indian culture and values.
The deleted posts include a video in which she talks about using lubricant and another explaining why some people cry after sex. Being restricted from reaching non-followers is also known as a shadow ban. In late July, Mangaldas received a notification from Instagram saying her account couldn’t “be shown to non-followers”, leading her to delete nine posts that had been flagged to be ”eligible for recommendation” again.
The new post was blocked, Mangaldas said, though Meta’s policy states that nudity in photos of “paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures” is acceptable. She also gave the example of a cropped image from a piece of 19th century French art showing a nude bottom that she originally posted in 2020 but reused this year. The older post is still visible.
A 2022 study among teenage girls in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh found that those using social media had better awareness of topics such as sex, pregnancy, birth control, and HIV/AIDS, compared to non-users. But content moderation policies are now censoring and limiting access to vital information that can help young people make more informed choices and reduce harmful behavior.
India is among the fastest-growing populations worldwide, with almost 40% of the population under 24 years old. Its writer pointed out that the country’s young people face multiple health and social issues that are easily preventable, adding that knowledge around sexuality and sexual health are limited. A quarter of the total population is under the age of 14 and adolescents and young adults (10 -24 years old) make up 27% of the population, according to a May 2023 paper on comprehensive sexuality education in India.
“We can work together instead of against each other,” she said. Mangaldas and other digital sex educators are calling for improved content moderation, transparency, and more direct communication from the social media platforms on how they are applying their policies.
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