A growing number of Instagram users are complaining that their accounts are being suspended abruptly without explanation, fueling doubts about the platform’s transparency and enforcement of community guidelines.
Complaints from its users have been increasingly surfacing online, sharing that their accounts have been disabled or deleted without any clear explanation or proper appeal process.
“I’ve been using my account for three years to post personal memories. Then, out of nowhere, it was deactivated,” a user wrote on dcinside, an online forum.
“I’ve never posted anything suspicious or inappropriate to get disabled, and I didn’t even get a chance to appeal … it was just an unexplained notice.”
According to users who shared similar experiences on the forum and a KakaoTalk open group chat, Instagram has been informing the accounts that they’re blocked for reasons such as sexual exploitation and abuse of children, along with community guidelines and integrity rules violations.
However, many claimed that they had not engaged in any such behavior and had not violated any of the platform’s community guidelines.
“I haven’t even posted anything, and my account is private, but it was still blocked,” a user shared in the KakaoTalk chat.
Instagram has been sending notices to the blocked users that they can request a review within 180 days, informing them their account will be permanently deactivated if they decide not to submit the request. However, many users reported than even when they did request a review, they still couldn’t avoid permanent deactivation.
Along with Instagram accounts, there have been cases of multiple profiles registered to the blocked account’s same internet protocol device are also being suspended, as well as Facebook and Threads accounts that are linked to the blocked account.
Amid the mounting confusion, more than 2,200 people complaining of similar issues joined the KakaoTalk chat as of Friday afternoon, discussing ways to respond to the account suspensions.
In the chatroom, people shared their own cases and possible approaches for reactivating their accounts, while many have revealed that their accounts have remained locked again after being reactivated briefly following a successful appeal.
Some are even discussing the option to gather affected users together to file a collective complaint to the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee.
As more users speak out, speculation is growing that the suspensions may stem from a malfunction in Meta’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven content monitoring system.
A similar controversy arose last year when Instagram’s AI-based age verification tool randomly suspended accounts that featured children’s faces in profile photos, despite the accounts being owned by parents.
Regarding the issue, a Meta Korea official said that it is “currently investigating the matter.”
