The founder of the startup, Tara Langdale-Schmidt, claims that the devices of her company, known as Vuva, are aimed at calming the pain and discomfort of the pelvis and the vagina, which she and millions of other women experienced. But over the past decade, Langdale-Schmidt claims that Amazon has repeatedly closed the offers of Vuvatech-Sometimes products that he says that he violates what he considers “adult content” rules “. Last year, Amazon blocked Vuvatech adding a discount coupon to one product, because its automated systems identified the object as “potentially embarrassing or offensive”, according to the screenshot seen by Wired.
“We just have to stop this madness to embarrass with matters,” says Langdale-Schmidt. “There is no difference from the vagina than the ear, nose, paragraph This is another place on your body and I do not know how we came to the moment when talking about it is not right. I just don’t understand it. “
Amazon spokesman, Juliana Karber, tells Wired that in the last year they have not been blocked to violate adult policy, although Langdale-Schmidt says that it was because she gave up the attempt to mention new elements. Karber adds that Amazon understands the importance of sexual health and biological renewal products for its clients and has thousands of sellers offering them. A small part of these products classified as “adult” is subject to additional rules “it’s best to make sure that we serve them to intending customers, and they have not surprised customers who are not looking for them,” says Karber.
Companies and organizations working in the field of sexual health and well -being have been directed against what they consider to be excessive restrictions on their content through shopping, advertising and social platforms for years. New survey and accompanying report Shared only from Wired by the Center for the Intma of Justice, a group of industry spokes, emphasizes how common these fears are.
In the survey, which was completed in March 2024, Vuvatech and over 150 other companies, non -profit groups and content creators covering six continents reported difficult experiences with sharing content about their work, promoting products and using other services from Amazon, Meta, Google and Tiktok. Surveys were organizations offering tools and support for pregnancy, menopause and other health topics.
Jackie Rotman, founder and general director of Center for Intymacy Justice, claims that the ending of what he describes as a biased censorship against women’s health would unlock valuable commercial possibilities for technological platforms, and is simply appropriate. “Bots, algorithms and employees who have no knowledge in this topic should not prohibit women’s access to vital and valuable health products,” he says.
Google, Meta, Tiktok and Amazon claim that they have their rules, some of which are aimed at protecting minors from meeting potentially sensitive content. Companies also note that they offer ways to users and advertisers to appeal against enforcement activities.
Some of the offers cited in the Center for Intymacy Justice include unregulated products that have restricted or mixed evidence confirming their effectiveness. Complaints regarding the moderation of content on technological platforms also go much beyond sexual health problems. But Rotman, the leader of the industry group, says that the results of the survey show how widely sexual tools and information are suppressed on the internet.