Not sure this really counts as an effective defense. I'd rather my agents of oppression didn't go around complaining about The Resident of Evil Creek.
Nothing I'm saying is defending censorship, because I'm absolutely not pro-censorship! I'm just pointing out that when the cultural tide turns, you have to pick your battles carefully and just try and work your way around it until things get better.
Sorry if that sounds defeatist, but there's really not much to be done about it in my view.
The difference between "high" art and "low" exploitation is subjective and frankly meaningless in itself, but it sure is easier to defend one than the other! Its all about perception and the ability to make allies politically and socially.
Moral/Value-based censorship tends to be driven by small specific-outlook pressure groups, who leverage governments into supporting their bullshit by (after gaining a degree of profile in the press/media) using that cause to press a hot-button issue that can potentially swing voter behavior.
Its the "think of the children" line. And it works particularly well on business as they, more than anyone, have everything to lose from direct government intervention, which is why we see this sort of risk-aversive policy change. A great example of this is how studio distributed slasher movies got tamer and tamer over the 80's, and not just as a result of increasing MPAA interference.
These days we have the SJW-contingent to bring the moral-jeopardy horseshit, the internet to amplify it, and their supporters in the media to cheerlead it (because its controversy, and that draws attention they can profit from). Thats a pretty formidable enemy, especially when these people's stock in trade is deplatforming and economically ruining those who stand against them.
If I was running a company, I'd think very carefully about tackling these jackals head-on too. Its just a lot of risk for little reward, and truthfully a difficult fight when the whole notion of freedom-of-speech as a prime civilizational virtue is ideologically anathema to the regressive left.
I'm not suggesting that we lie down and let these assholes roll over us, but rather that right now, we need to pick our fights carefully more than ever. Focussing on straw-man causes is just going to hand them easy wins and further their aims as they can use their successes to discredit the opposition.