Comedian Danny Polishchuk accused of 'sexual solicitation' by Instagram, banned from platform

Stand-up comedian Danny Polishchuk was banned from Meta platform Instagram recently, with the company citing "sexual solicitation" and helping to "arrange or encourage sexual activities."

The New York comedian is a popular sketch artist and podcaster, often appearing on fellow comic Ryan Long's YouTube channel, which has nearly 700,000 subscribers. The "Boyscast," the duo's podcast, also garners big views on their YouTube account, which has nearly 90,000 subscribers.

Polishchuk's permanent suspension came with the accusation of "sexual solicitation" from Instagram.

"We don't allow people on Instagram to help arrange or encourage sexual activities," Instagram said in a default message to Polishchuk, which he exclusively shared with Blaze News.

Examples included "sharing porn," "describing sex or arousal," and "offering or asking for sex or nude images."

This was coupled with a link to Instagram's "sexual solicitation" policy.

Meta, Instagram's parent company, details several types of posts that are prohibited under this policy.

Content that "offers or asks for prostitution," "engages in explicit sexual solicitation," or "engages in implicitly or indirectly offering or asking for sexual solicitation" is restricted. "Sexually explicit language that goes into graphic detail" about sex or arousal is also not allowed.

Still, the comedian's popularity wasn't enough for him to get a specific explanation surrounding his ban.

"I honestly don’t know what post it was; they didn’t say," Polishchuk told Blaze News.

The comedian thinks he might have been punished for a video making fun of a group called "Queers for Palestine," a video that was played on the Chris Williamson podcast for an audience of 1.1 million on YouTube alone.

"I just know I started by having issues on Oct 8, [2023]. I wasn't shadow-banned, which I think was part of the problem. I had a bunch of videos going viral, so, more attention on me," he added.

Polishchuk said he had been suspended from the platform twice for the same issue before the permanent ban, but won previous appeals.

"I got suspended on Oct 8 for the same issue. Appealed in the app. Lost instantly. But then had a chance to write a second appeal where they manually review your account and I got it back. Same thing happened two days later and again I got it back. Then nothing until November 8," he recalled.

November 8, 2023, is the day after the aforementioned clip was played on the popular podcast.

Polishchuk stated repeatedly that "no specific post was referenced" by Instagram, and he still can't be certain what caused the ban. Regarding the accusation of "sexual solicitation," the comic simply stated, "Obviously I didn't do that."

Instagram did not respond to request for comment regarding the nature of the comedian's ban, what specific content caused an issue, and whether or not he was given the chance to remove it. This article will be updated with any relevant responses.

Polishchuk has continued to joke about sensitive issues, including in incredibly successful sketches. One of the comedian's most popular videos included a comparison of the strikingly similar ideologies of woke progressives and racists.

That video has been viewed nearly 9 million times on YouTube.

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