Columbia High Court Asked Meta To Restore Porn Star's Site

Colombia's highest court has shaken the social media world when it ruled that Meta violated a porn star's right to freedom of expression when it deleted her Instagram account. It added that the tech firm had removed Esperanza Gómez's account "without a clear and transparent justification" and without offering similar treatment to other, similar accounts.

The 45-year-old, whose account had more than five million followers, is one of Colombia's best known adult content actresses.

Meta argued in the case that she had violated its rules on nudity. The company, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, did not immediately react to the ruling.

Gómez had alleged that the decision to close her account had affected her ability to work and had been influenced by her pornographic work beyond the platform. She also claimed Meta had not followed due process.

In its ruling, the court said that, while it recognized the social media platform's need to moderate content, this did not justify closing a porn star's account "without a clear and transparent justification".

It also found Meta "applied its policies on nudity and sexual services inconsistently", with other accounts with similar content remaining active.

The court said social media posts were protected under Colombia's constitution and should only be limited in a proportionate way where necessary.

It ordered Meta to "review and adjust Instagram's terms of use and privacy policy so that users are clearly aware of the mechanisms for challenging moderation decisions" and "more precisely define" its rules on implicit sexual content.

If social media platforms use offline activities as a criterion for content moderation, they must clearly state these, the court said.

The court did not specify sanctions for non-compliance, nor whether Ms Gómez would receive any redress.