Social media models are now offering nude pics in exchange for philanthropy.
As reported by Rolling Stone, this trend got a boost from 20-year-old model and “sex worker” Kaylen Ward, aptly named the Naked Philanthropist, who offered followers free nude photos if they would donate $10 to any of the organizations that she listed to help the growing brushfires in Australia.
“Appalled by the lack of media coverage of the fires, one woman decided to raise money by offering nudes in exchange for donations to a disaster relief fund — only to have her accounts disabled by Instagram not once, but twice,” reports the outlet.
On January 3, Ward tweeted along with the hashtag #AustraliaOnFire, “Every $10 you donate = one nude picture from me to your DM. You must send me confirmation that you donated.” The tweet featured a small preview in the form of a censored nude photo and quickly went viral, accumulating 75,000 retweets by Monday afternoon with nearly $500,000 raised in funds.
“We have hit an estimated $500k…… guys I am crying…. this is f***ing crazy,” she tweeted on Sunday.
Speaking with Buzzfeed News, Ward said that she felt deeply concerned about the Australia bushfires after seeing all the media coverage and wanted to do something.
“I was seeing all the posts on Twitter about the Australian fires and I was really concerned there wasn’t a lot of media coverage and not a lot of people donating,” she said.
We have hit and estimated $500k…… guys I am crying…. this is fucking crazy
— THE NAKED PHILANTHROPIST (@lilearthangelk) January 5, 2020
“Then Instagram abruptly disabled Ward’s account, even though she primarily ran the fundraising campaign on Twitter,” continued Rolling Stone. “When she tried to make another account, that one was disabled as well. All in all, Ward tweeted, Instagram has disabled three of her accounts, with a number of imposter accounts popping up in the process.”
A spokesperson for Facebook (Instagram’s parent company) told Rolling Stone that Ward’s account was disabled for violating community guidelines, which prohibits sexual solicitation and “offering or asking for…nude photos/videos/imagery.”
“This account was disabled for violating our policies. Offering nude images is not allowed on Instagram,” the spokesperson said.
Ward has since hired a team of people to sort through the massive number of DMs she received to best figure out how to distribute her promised nudes. Though social media responded enthusiastically, Ward later lamented that the tweet had ramifications in her personal life she did not expect.
“My IG got deactivated, my family disowned me, and the guy I like won’t talk to me all because of that tweet. But f**k it, save the koalas,” she tweeted.
My IG got deactivated, my family disowned me, and the guy I like won’t talk to me all because of that tweet. But fuck it, save the koalas.
— THE NAKED PHILANTHROPIST (@lilearthangelk) January 5, 2020
As a result of Ward’s naked philanthropy, other models felt inspired to make similar offers. One model, Aphrodite Aeria, has since raised $2,000 for the bushfire effort by offering nude photos of herself.
“The Australian bushfires are probably one of the greatest tragedies of our time, but no one is fundraising or pledging to rebuild things like at Notre Dame,” she said. “But if each individual person is giving as they can, we can actually make a difference.”
Model Emmy Corinne told Rolling Stone that she has not posted about her campaign on Instagram because “people got their accounts deleted for mentioning it.”
“Instagram is super strict, [and] even words I post get flagged,” she said.