It seems that the boys and girls at Instagram are unhappy with me, so much so that they appear to have suspended my access to my Instagram account. It’s still there but I can’t post onto it.
I don’t know how long this will last or indeed what it was specifically that I did to upset them so much. It seems if I am a scammer, offering nude pictures of myself or buying millions of followers then Meta are fine with all that but clearly trying to build an organic following on Instagram quickly leads you into their bad books.
So what I’m going to do is continue to post onto Facebook, X and LinkedIn as normal and once I’m out of Instagram jail I’ll post all of those posts in one go. Not ideal but then again neither is Instagram.
Update 1/2/24
It seems that Meta have decided that I’ve been punished enough and they have fully restored my Instagram account.
On the day that Mark Zuckerberg was dragged before the US Senate and made to apologise for his companies harming children his company was taking punitive action against little old me for something it thinks I’ve done. I don’t know what that was because they never told me and, of course, there is no way to get in touch with them and no arbitration you can appeal to.
It’s deeply worrying that Meta can’t deal with child harm but can deal heavily with someone trying to legitimately build their account and hence their legitimate business.
I doubt that all those people who have been affected by Meta’s unwillingness to deal with child harm will gain any comfort from knowing that people like me are being dealt with like we’re naughty children. The irony is totally lost on Meta.
And don’t think it’s just Meta. If you try and grow your X (formally Twitter) account you’ll be spammed to hell and back by promises from accounts purporting to be nubile, and very young, women. This week alone there isn’t one part of the female anatomy that hasn’t been offered to me. If you report this spam, and I have, you’ll be told that it doesn’t break X’s code of conduct.
It’s deeply disturbing to know that Elon Musk who a court of law has just blocked getting a $56 billion salary is also purveying sex on a truly massive scale through enormous numbers of fake or false accounts. These accounts target you irrespective of how old, or young, you are and Musk doesn’t give a damn.
Free speech Zuckerberg and Musk? Try telling that to the kids you have harmed, to the families you have ruined and the lives that have been lost. But hey, so long as you can moderate a legitimate business and close that business’ social media account for hours, days, or even permanently what else matters? Maybe you should focus your watchful eyes where they are really needed.
Messrs Zuckerberg and Musk, I’ve not posted one risqué picture, I’ve not threatened anyone, no child is harmed by my content and unless my music deeply offends you I’ll cause you no harm. But you’ll supress me whilst the cess pits you’re facilitating can go about their evil unhindered. It’s high time you got your priorities right and made social media a place where businesses can grow and people can interact safely. You could do this tomorrow, but I suspect the reason you won’t is that there’s not as much money to be made. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Contrast that with LinkedIn where the most dangerous spamming I get is the occasional direct message offering to supercharge my social media presence if I spend a few quid with some Indian marketing company.
Social media doesn’t have to be bad, it can be a real force for good so why isn’t it? Probably because when you’re trying to pay yourself $56 billion a year you really have lost all sense and all sensibility.