Apparently Instagram is straight-up banning influencers who break one too many rules in their latest crackdown on shady influencers.
Love Island star Phoebe Thompson shared a series of Instagram Stories revealing she’d been barred from sharing sponsored posts after breaking one too many rules.
In the first IG Story, she revealed that a sponsored piccy, where she appears to be wearing a lovely white ensemble, was unable to post as it “goes against [Instagram’s] community guidelines.”
“Umm are you joking @instagram?” she wrote.
In the next post, Instagram tells her that she is no longer “eligible to use the branded content tag on your post and stories.
“As part of our effort to make Instagram safe and welcoming for everyone, accounts that use our branded content tools must follow our Eligibility Standards.”
The bounce back also revealed that she already has a photo that’s still in posting limbo due to the breach, therefore she is unable to appeal the current issue, although it’s unclear which Instagram rules she’s broken.
“What does this mean?” she asked with a crying emoji.
In the third Instagram Story about the issue, she shared a nasty DM from a follower who wrote: “Hahaha suck shit, time for a real job.”
She hit back with a lengthy response where she said she’s “so sick of people making these kinds of comments to models and influencers!”
She went on to reveal that she’s had “body dysmorphia for 15 years,” adding that being an influencer has taken a “mental, emotional toll” and that it “tears you down on the daily.”
She then brought up that time she was called out by So Dramatic! for using her phone while driving to film an Instagram Story which… doesn’t really help her case, TBH.
Phoebe added, “People glamorise social media and what being an influencer is when really it’s about capturing fake moments and making your life look better than what it is and that is draining!”
She concluded, “Before anyone says anything about being a role model, I did not sign up to be anyone’s role model, it’s not my job to influence your kids! I have one life and I’m certainly not spending it censoring myself to be kid friendly. Rant over.”
It comes after a bunch of advertisers were pinged by Ad Standards for breaching sponsored posting guidelines on Instagram.
