Why it matters
For Black, queer, and other marginalized communities, talking openly about desire has never been easy. The internet gave people a place to express themselves without the pressures of politics in real life. As those politics bled into the online world, censorship followed, and those communities lost access to spaces they have created to learn more about themselves, their bodies, their sexuality, and their identities.
That is where we find ourselves today. Traditional social media platforms and moderation systems built on censorship are making it more difficult for people to express themselves naturally. In 2018, Congress passed FOSTA/SESTA, laws making platforms liable for user content that enables sex trafficking or solicits prostitution. According to Mashable, platforms overcorrected and began removing sexual content broadly, including discussions of sex, sex education, and sexual expression.
This pressure hasn’t eased. Repro Uncensored has documented more than 70 queer, reproductive health, and creative accounts suspended, removed, or restricted by Instagram and Facebook in March and April 2026, many with no clear explanation and limited or ineffective ways to appeal. For communities who have long relied on these platforms for health information and connection, censorship can mean a loss of both.
Many people have gravitated to platforms like Blacksky, where they feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of the consequences they would face elsewhere. But freedom from censorship isn’t the same as freedom from unwanted exposure. Building a better internet means protecting both.
Where we are now
Recently, we’ve seen an increase in discussion around how adult content currently shows up on our platform. By adult content, we mean content that is usually labeled as pornography, non-sexual nudity, or sexually suggestive content. Labeling adult content (both text- and image-based) is an example of how we empower community members to share more of themselves with folks, without creating a non-consensual experience for other members that do not wish to engage with adult content.
This, however, relies on people to self-label and on a moderation service to catch what they miss, which doesn't always uphold the consensual experience we want members to have. We want to keep serving communities who are censored elsewhere, and we want members to opt in to adult content instead of being opted in automatically. To solve this, we want to present you with options and invite you, as a member of our community, to decide how adult content shows up on Blacksky.
What we’ve already changed
Text-based content is now self-labelable on Blacksky
Peer moderators can now label adult content (both text- and image-based content) across the entire platform instead of only in our Community tab
Ideas we’ve heard from you
- 1.
A day and night mode
How it would work: A toggle where adult content is only available to be seen in night mode. Users in day mode would not see adult content at all.
The tradeoff: While this option is easy to use, it's a bit too broad. It doesn't let people choose specific types of media and ties content visibility directly to display settings.
- 1.
A pop-up before you post visual content asking if you want to label it
How it would work: We could run a small detection tool that checks an image on your own device before you post it. If it thinks the image contains adult content, a pop-up would show up asking if you want to label it. You’d always have the final say; the tool would only prompt you, never block or remove anything on its own.
The tradeoff: No tool is perfect. It may sometimes prompt on images that are fine and miss others, and automated tools have a history of over-flagging images of Black bodies. If we go this route, we would test and tune the tool on our own community's content before launch, and reporting and peer moderation would stay in place as a safety net.
- 1.
Followers-only visibility for adult content
How it would work: Posts containing adult content would only be visible if shared by accounts you follow. They would never appear in replies, quoted posts, mentions, or search feeds from unfamiliar users, ensuring members are safeguarded against non-consensual interactions in their notifications and threads.
The tradeoff: This greatly reduces surprise exposure, but it also limits discoverability for those looking for community.
What’s next?
These are only some of the ideas we've heard, and we want to know what you think, including what should be changed so we can build more consensual experiences for our community. We encourage you to talk about it with each other. Next, we'll launch a People's Assembly. We invite you all to add suggestions and vote on the ideas and statements submitted by the community.
As always, we're here to listen and adjust to the needs of our community, and we look forward to hearing from you.