Canadian small business accuses Instagram of cyberbullying
A small business owner is sounding the alarm after they lost access to its Instagram. Mine & Yours, a luxury consignment business, is fed up with being bullied by Instagram.
The business’s story, complete with receipts, is a cautionary tale that shows how little control companies can have over their own social media accounts. “We believe we are being targeted without just cause,” the company told Daily Hive.
After posting an Instagram story featuring shoes for sale, the company was told that the post violated community guidelines, and it lost access to its account on Thursday, June 8.
Instagram screenshot from Mine & Yours
While the initial reason it was given was that the post didn’t follow community guidelines, later, an insider at Meta told the company that the reason they were banned was “copyright infringement without any specific reason.”
“We are complying with their guidelines as a licensed reseller, and we have submitted our business license information,” Mine & Yours told Daily Hive. The company points out that larger resellers, The Real Real and Rebag, do the same thing but are not locked out of their accounts.
Mine & Yours owner Courtney Watkins said it’s disappointing that her small business is being targeted. “Over the years, we have invested time and money into our Instagram account especially now since we are due to open our third location in Toronto, and to have it disappear without warning is distressing,” said Watkins.
Community Guidelines
Upon review of Meta’s community guidelines, the only ones that one could make a case for violating would be its third-party infringement guidelines.
Here’s the rule from Meta:
Listings may not contain content that infringes upon or violates the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright or trademark. This includes, but is not limited to, the promotion or sale of counterfeits, such as goods that copy the trademark (name or logo) and/or distinctive features of another company’s products to imitate a genuine product.
Mine & Yours includes a disclaimer in all of its posts that it’s a licensed reseller and that all copyrights are reserved for original brands. But the guidelines are not made clear for licensed re-sellers to market goods.
“Other businesses, like The Real Real, are able to advertise their products without any hindrance to their marketing efforts. They freely mention brand names and their account is unaffected,” said Mine & Yours.
“We have a valid business license, yet they continue to target us without making their guidelines any clearer. This is a form of cyberbullying on the part of Meta by targeting smaller businesses and not larger businesses that offer the same product and services as ours.”
Trying to get back their account
Mine & Yours says a lack of direct communication and accessible support channels hindered their ability to get their account back. They reached out to Meta’s support team multiple times but got limited responses before ultimately being referred to contact Meta’s legal team.
Without spending thousands on legal fees or knowing an insider at Meta, the hopes of resolving the issue seemed slim. But this isn’t the company’s first rodeo with Meta.
Dejá-vu
Previously, Daily Hive reported that Mine & Yours had its Instagram account expunged from the platform with no warning during the Black Friday weekend in 2021.
Daily Hive reached Meta to ask why the account was deleted and what the recovery or recourse process was like. At the time, a communications staffer with Meta said, “I don’t think we’ll be able to make your deadline tonight. That being said, we’ll be sure to follow up on your inquiry as soon as we can.” Shortly after receiving that reply, Mine & Yours got its original Instagram account back online. Meta apologized for the mistake but did not provide any further information or answers.
Fast forward a year and a half, on Tuesday, July 11, at around 11 am, Daily Hive reached out to Meta to ask why it has repeatedly taken down content from Mine & Yours while other, larger resellers remain untouched and to inquire if community guidelines were being enforced for all companies regardless of size.
Meta did not respond to Daily Hive’s request or provide a later follow-up. A few hours later, Mine & Yours had its access restored.
Restored access
“We are thrilled!” the company said. “It goes without saying that this exact chain of events happened the last time where [Daily Hive] reached out and within hours the account was put back up.”
Screenshot from Mine & Yours’ Instagram
Even though the company is happy to have its access restored, again, Meta has not been held accountable.
Mine & Yours is calling on Meta to “reevaluate its policies and establish clearer guidelines to protect small businesses from arbitrary takedowns and unfair treatment.”
“By disregarding the concerns of small business owners, Meta risks alienating an essential segment of its user base and stifling entrepreneurial growth.”
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