Instagram – It’s not me, IT’S YOU!

I seriously didn’t think I would be writing another Instagram Shadowban blog post (You can read the first one here)…….. but here we are. I was officially slam dunked back in to social media jail and once again for posting a photo of my little boy Charlie on holiday, wearing shorts. My second “Time Out” in  five months – I know; what a fuckin’ badass!

So this time I was still very upset of course but mainly I was/am VERY angry. And not solely because Instagram or Facebook would deem my child to be “offensive” or in breach of their “mystical community guidelines” but because there are massive inconsistencies in how they monitor photos on their platforms. Let’s not even get in to the fact that someone is repeatedly reporting me – that’s a whole new level of cowardice that I’m just not quite ready to accept or delve in to right now.

As I write this, my two weeks of silence and censorship have actually ended and my photos are starting to appear back under relevant hashtags. So I could just leave it there right? Learn from it? Learn from what exactly though? That I have a special needs child who dresses the same as every other child on his holiday but gets singled out for it? Learn not to share the aspects of his life that inspire so many other parents out there? Why should I? And let’s face it, irrespective of all that, I’m never going to be the type to just roll over and take something. I also find it VERY difficult to forget when I’ve been wronged and I absolutely believe that Facebook and Instagram need to be held accountable for their shoddy customer service and completely hypocritical measures of policing photos.

So let’s talk about the photo in question…….When I took this picture of Charlie enjoying a fairground ride at the beach I was so proud and so happy. As many of you who have been following us for a while know, getting Charlie to wear and keep clothes on has been a struggle for as long as I can remember. Yet here he is, donning a cute pair of shorts and looking just like every other little boy enjoying their holiday in the 30+ degree heat. I was actually so pleased about it that I sent it to my mum, to my sister, to my cousins and I posted it to my Instagram stories. I didn’t for one moment think that any person in their right mind would be offended by this photo.

When I woke up the next morning I had received a direct message from Instagram to let me know that someone had flagged up the photo and that they had decided that it goes against their “community guidelines” and therefore it had been removed. It was about 5.30am and I sat bold upright, nausea starting to take over as I checked my hashtags and found that once again ALL OF MY PHOTOS WERE GONE. In the hope of rallying some support around me I posted the same photo to Facebook along with a lengthy explanation as to what had happened and how people could help. Minutes later that was removed too and I was blocked from Facebook for 24 hours.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. When Facebook removes a photo you have the chance to resubmit it for review which I of course did, explaining that Charlie was a little boy (in case the long hair confused them and all) on holiday wearing shorts and that his photo wasn’t offensive, didn’t contain nudity and certainly wasn’t pornography. Facebook responded to me twice saying that they had made a mistake and that the photo was re-instated (see screenshot above) but this did not happen. Due to the fact that I have a business account with Facebook, who own Instagram, I then tried to get in touch with their Business Support team. Initially nobody would speak to me because I didn’t have an active advertisement in place. So get this…. I sponsored a post on my Instagram. I actually paid (albeit the smallest amount I could) to advertise an account that they were actively hiding. I figured once I bought this fact to their attention that they would have to speak to me and hopefully rectify my issue.

Sadly not. I got a whole lot of nothing from Megan in Facebook’s global marketing solutions team. In fact she skirted around the issue as much as possible despite me providing accurate details of timings, dates, notifications etc etc. When I also asked Megan to look at Charlie’s image along with others of a similar nature that still exist on the platform she had to admit that some images do pass through the review system in error. My own research informs me that this is usually the case if you’re a celebrity posting photos of your kids at the beach or your half naked self advertising a product. There was also no explanation offered as to why the image had been removed from my facebook page but not from Charlie’s Dads or Grandmas who had both posted the exact same photo!

I repeatedly asked to speak to someone either in a complaints or appeals team but if either of those departments do actually exist, Megan was never going to put me through to them. I think unless you know someone personally who works at Facebook or Instagram you simply have to sit and wait it out and not make a fuss. Because despite the fact that you may be a paying customer, you don’t actually exist to these companies. If businesses on the high street conducted themselves in this way we would all be running in the opposite direction. But for some reason nobody is doing anything about Facebook and Instagram’s blatant lack of customer service and “we don’t give a fuck (even when we are in the wrong)” attitude.

So for research purposes I decided to report some images on Instagram to see if they would “pass through the review system” or whether there was some sort of consistency in how the algorithm deems images inappropriate or not. I chose Kim Kardashian because she has over 140 million followers and also because she’s half naked most of the time right? I found plenty of photos on her feed that I felt could be crossing the very blurred lines of “skin showing” but I chose a photo of her little boy on the beach in swim shorts – obviously because this is so similar to Charlie’s scenario, and one of her completely naked, bar her fingertips covering her nipples. Guess what? Neither of the images were removed. Instagram decided that both of those images DID NOT got against their community guidelines. Once again I took to Facebook to complain about how hypocritical this was. I posted both images and the one of naked Kim actually got removed from MY FACEBOOK and I was banned once again. I submitted the photo to be reviewed explaining that it’s currently LIVE on HER instagram and how could they say it was ok for her to post there but not for me to post on Facebook. The review came back with the same answer. Kim’s photo violated their community standards. But it seems only when I posted it – not when she posted it.

When you read through all of this I’m sure you will agree that it’s actually quite laughable. And if the Instagram Shadowban didn’t directly impact my business and livelihood then I would probably be laughing too. These multi billion dollar companies are basically picking and choosing what rules apply to whom and when and they seriously have no problem at all sticking it to us little guys.

So what did I do and what now?

Well, after the last Instagram shadowban I knew that none of the so called “tips and tricks” you read about actually work. It literally is a waiting game and the ban typically lasts for exactly two weeks. I kept posting and engaging, although definitely at a reduced rate. I reported the issue of no longer appearing in hashtags multiple times a day and I also appealed to my followers to do the same on my behalf. Finally, I reverted my Instagram account from a business account to a personal account and severed the link between Instagram and Facebook. This is basically a very clear sign that I will no longer consider using paid advertisements/sponsored posts on either platform because that is what matters to Facebook – money. It wants you to feel like you have to fork out to get your content seen. At the end of the day they are a business, with billions of users and to them money and numbers talk – nothing else.

Now my ban has lifted I’m still considering my options. Despite everything, Instagram is my go to social media platform. Because I’m a photographer and blogger it just makes more sense for me to use a platform that is so visual. I also have such a lovely little community behind me here. So even though I most definitely thought about leaving or deleting my account, that kind of feels like I’m letting Facebook and Instagram win. I have decided however, not to use @Bethannestagram as a place to share photos of Charlie which hurts my heart but I have to be sensible here. Perhaps I will change my mind later on down the line but for right now, I don’t want to leave my account vulnerable to being reported again by someone who obviously doesn’t like me but is using my beautiful son as a way to get at me. Like I said, I can’t even begin to process what kind of person does this and I’m not focusing any more of my energy on it.

But before I go I just want to say a huge thank-you to every single one of my friends and followers who have rallied around me during this very frustrating period. To everyone who reported the issue on my behalf, who contacted Instagram or Facebook, who shared my posts, who sent me kind words or who just checked up on me – It meant the world. As many of you will know, I really do struggle with my existing and lurking mental health issues when I am upset or anxious. So whilst an Instagram Shadowban may not seem that important to some people….. to me it was hurtful, stressful and personal. Thankfully, after just a few bad days I have managed to pull myself out of the downward spiral I was hearing towards and that is mostly because of you, this community.

So as always, Thank-you for being here and thank-you for caring about what I do.

Beth Anne