While hanging out with thousands of anime fans on social media posting memes with links to our company’s products is a lot of fun, sometimes there are hiccups. Like when Facebook punishes J-List, disabling our page for some infringement their AI algorithms hallucinated right before Black Friday. Since we couldn’t promote our sale to our followers last week due to Facebook Anime Censorship, we decided to extend the sale for everyone for three more days!
Great news! Because of an issue with Facebook, J-List has decided to extend our biggest sale of the year for three more days. So you can still buy awesome manga and doujinshi, fun otaku products, in-stock figures or our world-famous naughty products and save big…but only through Thursday.
Facebook Anime Censorship: We’re Already in a Battle Against AI
Every morning, I start my day with breakfast before taking the short walk to the J-List office. Once there, I help my staff post new products, then brainstorm topics for my next blog post. Oh, and I also engage in ongoing battles with AI, trying to craft content that’s fun for our Facebook followers while dodging Meta’s frustrating automated algorithms that love to flag our posts.
It’s a difficult task. If you follow J-List’s Twitter account, you’ll know that I’m very active there, with lots of fun content. I post memes, start discussions on various anime topics (often including the responses in my blog posts), and of course share sexy content. This ranges from pantyshots to the occasional anime tiddy to steamier hentai clips.
When I go to post some of this content to Facebook (and Instagram), naturally I have to discard a large portion because it’s inappropriate for those communities. It feels like 95% of my fun Twitter content has to be thrown away because of prudish Facebook policies.
Want to follow J-List on social media, and talk about anime with us? We’re on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and now Bluesky!
Why Does Facebook Hate Anime?
Whether it’s their automated systems or their human staff, Facebook loves to take down our posts, often for extremely frivolous reasons. Let’s look at some of the terrible crimes J-List has committed against the Facebook community recently!
Take this image, which Facebook’s bots removed automatically because “the post may show children in a sexual way.” It’s literally a picture of Noko running towards the camera with meme text on it. We objected to the takedown, but a human confirmed it was not allowed on their platform.
Then there’s this image, which was a harmless meme in which Hana from Wataten is looking at Remi from Horimiya and judging her for not watching as much anime as she did when she was younger. This image likely got flagged because I used the word “younger” in the post, which naturally is a sign of child sexual abuse no matter what the context is, right? Maybe Facebook’s bots have actually watched the Wataten anime and know what it’s about?
Obviously Facebook wants to protect depressed people who might harm themselves. Or rather, Facebook wants to show others how good they are at protecting the community so they can avoid criticism. It might have been okay to say that this post, which was about how “dark and depressing anime” are among the most engaging and popular among fans, might not be appropriate for Facebook because of its tone. But instead, their algo just played the “may show children in a sexual way” card again.
Are Otokonoko Characters Anti-LGBT?
Do you think the many, many popular otokonoko characters in anime — who are boys that dress as girls and are so good at it, they’re basically cuter than the girls in the show — are anti-LGBT? Of course not. Exactly the opposite is true. These characters are always popular, and fans on both sides of the political aisle enjoy them. I know very conservative guys who have become more chill about various issues because of fun characters like these building bridges.
But Facebook apparently thinks posting any meme about the otokonoko genre is anti-LGBT. And this cost me my personal Facebook account, making it impossible for me to contact friends and family members.
Way to go, Facebook!
Twitter/X Isn’t Perfect, but…
Like many, I’m not a fan of the relative mess Twitter/X has become. The algorithm promotes the trashiest content while boosting whatever Elon Musk wants us to be talking about today. I’m especially angry at how foreign actors antagonistic to the US and the West are clearly using social media to influence everything from our elections to the emotional well-being of young men. This is a cornerstone of Vladimir Putin’s “information war,” which has been in full swing since 2014. But despite the overwhelming flood of misinformation, there seems to be no effective way to push back against it.
Personally, I think everyone should only follow positive communities they enjoy interacting with, whether it’s Anime Twitter, Finance Twitter, Cosplay Twitter, or whatever. We should all avoid famous people, politicians, or anyone seeking to influence our emotions about politics. If you find yourself part of some online community that reinforces negative feelings (*cough* 4chan *cough*), you should consider making a change.
All of that said, J-List will continue to use Twitter/X, for the foreseeable future. I refuse to live in a Zuckerberg-dominated universe where I can’t post anime boobs or sexy jokes or memes about otokonko anime without getting my company’s official page and its 1.5 million followers threatened with deletion. Follow J-List on X if you aren’t already following us!
Will J-List Make a Bluesky Account?
Yes! We’ve had an account for a year or more, and are starting to use it as much as Twitter. We love the budding Bluesky anime community and look forward to talking with lots of fans there. I especially love how free the platform is, even allowing sexy anime or even full 18+ posting. Automatic warnings are placed on this content, and users can select what they want to see by adjusting their settings. Everyone wins!
Follow the official J-List Bluesky account here!
Thanks for reading this blog post about some of the challenges of running a company like J-List in the increasingly frustrating world of Facebook anime censorship. We’ll keep on fighting the good fight, so we can entertain and engage with as many users as possible about anime and ecchi subjects!
Let’s Chat
Also, be sure to follow J-List on these platforms!
- Twitter/X, where Peter posts anime booba for you
- Bluesky, where we post several times a day
- Facebook, where we share memes and discuss anime
- Instagram, where you can look at sterilized anime memes because it’s Instagram
- Discord, if you want to chat with other J-List customers of culture
Great news! Because of an issue with Facebook, J-List has decided to extend our biggest sale of the year for three more days. So, you can still buy awesome manga and doujinshi, fun otaku products, in-stock figures, or our world-famous naughty products and save big…but only through Thursday.
