Recently, Facebook and Instagram users have complained about having their accounts arbitrarily banned and struggling to get them reinstated.
Last month, Meta – which owns the platforms – acknowledged a “technical error” which it said was causing the wrongful suspension of some Facebook Groups.
Now, a mentor of a young black entrepreneur had his personal and business social media accounts removed by Meta, which owns Instagram.
They told the Guardian: “There was no notice, no option to appeal and, from my understanding, no just cause.
“He had built up two successful businesses in clothing design and music events.”
They said: “Six days before the ban, he had sold 1,500 tickets for an electronic dance event in London. Instagram, rather than a website, is the platform for his work. However, he was suddenly informed that his content did not abide by Meta’s community guidelines on violence and incitement.
Something NEEDS to be done to stop Instagram from disabling accounts at random. Accounts people spent years to build a following on. Accounts that gave people income. Small businesses.
Here’s what happened to me: pic.twitter.com/S2UBohtaXD
— probowlgano (@probowlgano) July 5, 2025
“His business account, which had 5,700 followers, and his personal account, with almost 4,000 contacts, were deleted.
“These represent his entire social and professional network, as he has no alternative contact book. He has not been allowed to retrieve this data. The IP addresses on his devices have been banned, so he can’t open new accounts.”
“For my generation, an Instagram profile can be not only a sole source of income but an identity, and the severance of mine has been difficult to recover from,” the 21-year-old told the paper.
“I received no warning that I was violating any guidelines, and this decision has cost me thousands of pounds in lost sales, which, as I come from an inner city, single-parent household, is catastrophic.”
Meta refused to comment on the record, but a press officer said due to “breaches” of its guidelines, it will not be reinstating the accounts or letting RM retrieve his contacts.
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Instagram says on its website: “If your Instagram account was disabled, you’ll see a message telling you when you try to log in. Accounts that don’t follow our Community Standards may be disabled.
“If you think your account was disabled by mistake, you may be able to ask us to review the decision by opening the app, entering your username and password and following the on-screen instructions.
“If you don’t see a disabled message, you may be experiencing a login issue. If your account was deleted by you or someone with your password, there’s no way to restore it. You can create a new account with the same email address you used before, but you may not be able to get the same username.
“If someone gained access to your account or you’re unable to log in to your account, visit this page on your desktop or mobile browser to secure your account.”
