I enjoy making fun of things online. I don’t “do” the pretty Instagram desks with flowers on them. Snore. After mocking a lot of toilet paper hoarding in recent days, I thought “Sure, lets play a game with this” and posted some polls on Instagram stories:
None of this is out of character for how I use social media. However, Instagram took offense and wanted to delete me:
As I do, I decided to mock it further. Not only did I put their responses on my Instagram stories, I put it on my Facebook page. Facebook also didn’t like it, but were more specific, accusing me of these posts being adult sexual exploitation:
Facebook worked it out faster than Instagram:
For now, I have no idea what Instagram is up to. Seeing as they’re the same company, you’d think if Facebook could work it out, then Instagram could work it out – but it seems that is too logical and my expectations are too high. Instagram has also banned me from using their branded content tools, which I don’t use anyway, but I have requested a review of that as well. I’ll update you if and when Instagram gets their shit together.
Let this be a good reminder though – owned media is CRITICAL. You DO NOT own your social media profiles. Owned media; your website and your email list, are critical pieces to invest in.
I have literally no idea how the “Artificial intelligence” thought that joke polls were me conducting adult sexual exploitation, but I think it’s fair to say the “intelligence” part of Artificial intelligence needs some work. These posts were in character and in line with my social media use – so be aware – yes, you can lose your social media at any time BECAUSE YOU DO NOT OWN IT and their policies, processes and AI do not always work well.
