Instagram has not given a more specific reason for deleting the account.
A 25-year-old from Vantaa Olivia Emma Rahusen The Oliviadanne account had 6000 active followers, among which there were no bot accounts. The content of the account mainly consisted of outfit photos and resembled a lifestyle blog. At the end of January, years of work were thrown away in an instant, when Instagram closed the account without warning.
– The situation was really special. I had just added a normal new outfit photo that didn’t violate Instagram’s rules in any way. I opened the app when I was checking to see if there had been any comments on the picture. Instagram did not agree to open the account, but announced that the account had been closed permanently, because I had not obeyed the rules of the service, Rahunen tells Iltalehte.
The announcement hit Rahuse in the face. The account had existed for ten years and it contained hundreds of pictures that were important to Rahuse as well as to his followers. The Instagram account had also been a significant source of side income for Rahuse: About a third of Rahuse’s income came from Instagram through business cooperation.
– I thought this couldn’t possibly be real. I also tried to log into the account with the pad, but I couldn’t get in. There were no more specific clues about what had happened or how I had broken the rules.
Rahunen received such a notification from Instagram when he tried to log into his account. Olivia Emma Rahunen
This was the beginning of a heavy investigation, which has now lasted more than half a year. Rahunen waded through similar experiences of others on the Internet and watched YouTube videos that advised how to get the account back. Some said hope was not lost yet, but that’s how Rahus felt because he had already tried everything.
– I was not offered any help or additional information from Instagram. After a long search, I found a few forms that were hidden on the support page probably 15 clicks away. The forms promised that they could be used to apply for a correction.
– I read people’s experiences online about how likely it is that the account will be returned. It was mentioned there that no real person is checking the forms, but the computer goes through them or rejects them automatically, Rahunen states.
My own studio for Instagram
Seven months have passed since the account was closed, but the situation still haunts Rahuse’s mind.
– I have thought about how unfair the situation is. I’ve thought about a situation where Instagram would have been my only source of income and the bills would have to be paid with it. How on earth would I have survived that. Fortunately, that was not the case, Rahunen sighs and states:
– Many of my friends make their income on Instagram alone. The fact that this would happen to them is a pretty wild thought.
Although money has come from business associations, it has also gone. Rahunen says that he set up his own studio in his home, which was intended for social media photos.
Rahunen says that it has been impossible to get in touch with Instagram. Olivia Emma Rahunen
Rahunen says that he set up a new account to replace the old one, but it has not grown in the same way as the original. The new account now has just under 1500 followers.
– All collaborations are pretty much a thing of the past. I’ve messaged a couple of companies with whom I’ve worked a lot in the past. However, I have only received a cold response that I do not have the required number of followers. It’s been a slap in the face. However, I also understand the situation from their point of view.
The reason has not been clarified
Exactly why the account was closed is unclear. Rahunen has tried to get hold of a person on Instagram who could explain the matter in more detail. However, no answers have been given.
A few weeks ago Rahunen sent the review request form again. Unexpectedly, he immediately received a reply asking him to send Instagram a picture of himself holding a piece of paper with a number code given by Instagram written on it.
– I thought that I might have some hope, and I sent them a picture. However, nothing has been heard, so I already had time to get my hopes up.
– I have no idea that something like this could ever happen to me. Now that I’ve read about it in retrospect, I’ve come to the conclusion that Instagram doesn’t have enough manpower to deal with such cases.
Instagram says that the account can no longer be found. Olivia Emma Rahunen
Rahunen suspects that his account was somehow hijacked, because he can’t figure out how he would have broken the rules.
– I couldn’t think of any rule that I would have broken. I know that Instagram can be put on ice quite easily, for example, if you send the same messages in a row. There has never been any warning, and I have never done anything that would have broken the rules, Rahunen says.
Account hijacking is also quite unlikely, as Rahuse had two-step authentication and a strong password in use. In addition, he says that he checked the information security settings at regular intervals.
The most important thing for Rahuse would be to get his own account back now, so that justice would be served.
– I think it’s really unfair that someone’s years of work is lost, and no one is interested in promoting the issue. The content I created for the account has now disappeared somewhere. Of course, I have pictures on my phone, but not nearly all of them. However, there were many hundreds of pictures.
– You could say that developing an Instagram account felt like a life’s work. It was my passion and hobby and of course some money came from it. It was significant for me. It was a chilling experience for someone to pull the rug out from under me like that.
Familiar situation
Emma has countless fellow destinies whose accounts have been arbitrarily closed. Iltalehti reported last year about a couple whose Mutkatonta family blog was unexpectedly deleted from Instagram.
At that time, the reason for the removal was that the fraudsters had created fake accounts in the name of the real account. By pretending to be a real account, these fake accounts caused Instagram to remove the real account from the service.
At the time, Instagram’s parent company Meta admitted its mistake and said it had deleted the account by mistake. The account was returned to its owners shortly after Iltalehti contacted. Meta did not say whether a human or an automated computer was behind the decision to close.
In Rahuse’s case, Iltalehti has also contacted Meta to inquire about the background of the case. We also asked how moderation works and whether the company is brave enough to go through users’ correction requests.