Help us create a bulge-friendly photo-sharing app

Does Instagram remove your posts because you have skin and a body?

Does it feel like you’re targeted because your content is "gay"?

Do you look at your Facebook “violations” and think “I’ve seen far worse than that on here” every time?

Yup, us too.

In fact, Facebook accused Happy Bulge Swim Co. of "exploiting covid" with swimsuit photos. Really. (We have the receipts.) When our little brother company, full of half-naked men, Buff Boy Brewing Co., launched, Facebook removed its marketplace access, accusing the coffee company of selling "fake documents and currency." (It’s never had the ability to appeal the decision a year and a half later.)

The company shutdown Happy Bulge's Facebook page in September 2021 after citing multiple "policy violations." When threatened with a national media campaign -- and having been sent our receipts of unreasonable targeting -- the page was reinstated and Facebook apologized for any "hurt" caused. We wrote about it on our blog HERE .

This past October, our Instagram page was under attack and targeted 27 times for content that, in some cases, had been posted months earlier. It was as if someone said, "OK, let's put this page under the microscope.” IG reinstated some posts, however maintained that many still violated policies. Everything from swimwear being classified as "adult products" to a guy kneeling on a bed classified as "overly sexual positioning," we suffered sleepless nights for weeks always fearful that opening the IG app would give us the fatal notification: You've been blocked. (To date, Facebook has not responded to 43 requests for a media comment about the targeting.)

It's not just those of us who post body or underwear photos that feel the homophobic wrath of Facebook censorship. LGBTQ artists -- people who paint, people who make music -- have publicly shared stories about having their audience wiped out because FB/IG said their content is harmful to the world.

For all those people who post the screenshots of their latest "violation" or have a backup account because they're expecting to be shutdown at any moment, we're making an app for you.

It's an app where you won't be shamed by a corporation that says your body violates a policy. It's an app where you will be appreciated for having the confidence to show yourself. It's an app that celebrates all of us because we were, well, born this way. (Thanks, Lady Gaga.)

We're teaming up with a developer to create an IG-like photo-sharing app. We will be purchasing an IG-type template/framework and working with the developer to create a user experience nearly identical to IG. You’ll post stories, upload pics, comment, go live, message – just like you do every day on IG (when you’re not suspended!). The major difference in our user experience: no homophobic targeting.

The one issue: Apps are hella expensive to create, launch, operate and maintain. As a small swimwear business that struggled through the pandemic (who needed swimsuits in quarantine?), supply chain issues and decreased traffic thanks to FB/IG bans, we're not in a position to fund the project ourselves.

We're creating a community app and need support from the community. We all know someone who's been warned/blocked/banned from the platforms. Please share this campaign with them and encourage them to contribute. Let them know they can show off their thong, rock their jock, bulge in their swimsuit on our new app.

Many of you have hundreds and thousands of followers liking and commenting on your content. Do you like the risk of losing your entire audience because some FB/IG algorithm flagged your thumb as an exposed penis, or decided your pubic hair was "sex and nudity"? We’ll answer for you: no.

Please support this project and help us create an open, bulge-friendly platform. Our goal is to have the app completed, tested, and submitted to Google and Apple before spring. The developer is ready to work... we just need the money to pay him.

Thanks for your continued support.