We’ve Been Paroled
Last Thursday, I told you how our KXEL Instagram account had been suspended because we somehow violated community standards. Our Threads account, tied to Instagram, was similarly blocked.
We clicked on the “appeal” link on Wednesday, with Instagram’s automated response saying appeals are handled within a day…if we were successful, then we get the account back…if not, they would ban us from the platform permanently.
Friday afternoon, two days after we appealed, came a bright shiny email with the subject line, “You’re back on Instagram, kxel 1540”…and a message with a headline of “You can use kxel1540 again.”
“Hi kxel1540,” it began. “Thanks for taking the time to request a review. We reviewed your account and found that the activity on it does follow our Terms of Use, so you can use Instagram again. We’re sorry we got this wrong and that you weren’t able to use Instagram for a while. Sometimes we need to take action to help keep our community safe.”
Phew, that was a relief. To not be able to post to Instagram or Threads? Perish the thought.
Alright, they claim it was their mistake and they’re sorry. Probably so. But what drew their attention to begin with? What did they get wrong by blocking our account?
Or…and again, this is just a thought…someone was sending a message to a radio station with conservative national political programming. Maybe someone who wanted to silence KXEL complained to Instagram. Maybe Instagram itself was trolling. Or maybe it was a completely random event.
I’ll let you decide how nefarious—or innocent—this all was. But we won’t be changing our messaging or methods. And we’ll see if we coincidentally are targeted again before the November election.
