Over the past week, Instagram meme accounts have been under attack and have had their accounts either disabled or permanently deleted for little to no reason and at little to no warning. These waves of attacks on our right to free speech are not only affecting the repost accounts who have made a living off of posting memes, but they also are affecting the creators who have spent years of their lives organically growing a following from original content.

The new waves of bans are sudden and autonomous meaning that there is no human input in whether or not an account is safe or deleted. There are instances where gruesome videos of mutilation and straight up pornography are reported but not taken down whereas a funny video of a man falling over is taken down for “violence”. This should NOT happen Instagram.

A video of a man falling over is not considered violence. A man wearing an army uniform is not a Nazi uniform. And if a bad word is shown in a post, it doesn’t mean that it’s bullying or harassment. The “all-seeing and all-knowing Instagram algorithm” CANNOT tell if any of these things are the case and yet it has the power to delete any post as it so pleases. There is NO way to appeal it and get an answer that is useful. Every email or notification from Instagram support is bland and vague, explaining that the details aren’t to be disclosed, but we want answers. We want change. And most importantly, we want our accounts back.