Hundreds Of People Had Their Instagram Accounts Suspended On This Holy Day Of Babies Sitting Inside Pumpkins
Hundreds of Instagram users have tweeted that they were unexpectedly suspended from Instagram on Halloween, objectively one of the most fun days to be scrolling the feed.
Instead of waking up to photos of dogs and babies in costumes, people like writer Ben Handelman woke in fear that they had permanently lost access to their account. Searching for their account yields a "page not available" message.
Apparently my Instagram was just deleted for violating community guidelines when I literally only post links to songs I’m listening to and pictures of myself & my friends. Anyone else having this happen? I’m trying to make sure this isn’t a hack
"Initially I was concerned and anxious. I mostly just use it to share tiny life updates and pictures of cute animals or songs I'm listening to," they told BuzzFeed News. "I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything upsetting I've ever done with the platform."
When Handelman searched Twitter to see if anyone else was having the same problem, they found that they were not alone. In addition to the random suspensions, users have reported difficulties getting the app to load.
"We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account," the official Instagram account tweeted. "We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience."
We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience. #instagramdown
Instagram has not responded to BuzzFeed News' request for comment about account suspensions.
Sooo apparently my instagram account no longer exists? #instagramdown @instagram please resolve this issue because I have 10+ years worth of memories on there. DONT LOGOUT IF YOU GET THE ERROR!
Did anyone else's Instagram just get suspended for no reason? And now Instagram won't even bother to let you appeal it just gives you an error?#InstagramDown?
Some people whose accounts were not suspended noticed their follower counts had dropped dramatically.
Venus Cuffs, an NYC nightlife influencer with 40,000 followers, told BuzzFeed News that she was prompted to "verify" her information when she opened Instagram this morning, but closed the app instead. Her follower count dropped 1,000 followers in just 15 minutes after that.
The official @Instagram account lost 1 million followers.
My Instagram get suspended but not only me right?
Comedian Georgia Shenk told BuzzFeed News her main concern is that it might be a hack, not a bug.
"I’m the queen of internet security measures so my first thought was that it was really weird it was asking me for two-step verification and then my app crashed and now it says my password is wrong," she said.
To people whose life's work revolves around Instagram, it's much more than just an access issue.
"All of my content is now locked and it's scary to think I may lose access to a half a decade of work," Micah Jameson, who lost access to their dog walking account @bestfriendsbestfriend, told BuzzFeed News.
It's shaping up to be a very spooky Halloween, indeed.
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