Sports Photographer Has Instagram Account Wrongfully Banned by Meta Over ‘Sexualization of Children’
A sports photographer had his Instagram account permanently disabled after Meta mistakenly claimed his content violated its rules against the “sexualization of children.”
19-year-old photographer and videographer Jack Rastorfer creates and edits high-energy videos featuring athletes and sporting events for social media. According to FOX4 Problem Solvers, Rastorfer, who is based in Lenexa, has built a following of nearly 20,000 people on his Instagram account @jackman_vids over the past five years.
Instagram has become an important source of work for Rastorfer, who says many clients have contacted him through the platform since one of his videos went viral.
“A video went crazy [and] got like 1.2 million likes, seven million views,” Rastorfer tells FOX4 Problem Solvers, “It was a big video. And ever since that video, I got more and more people to be like, ‘Hey, I want you to come film me.’”
He adds: “Building from zero to 20,000 [followers] in the span of five years, it’s not day and night. It’s a consistent build. Most of my business has been through Instagram DMs.”
But in July, after years of hard work, Rastorfer found his Instagram account suddenly and wrongfully banned.
‘It Can Happen to Anybody’
Last month, Meta disabled Rastorfer’s Instagram account, @jackman_vids, erroneously saying his content violated the platform’s “community standards on sexualization of children.”
“This is a very serious accusation,” Rastorfer said. “It’s so scary that it can happen to anybody, any business.”
According to FOX4 Problem Solvers, Rastorfer appealed the decision, explaining that his account had no connection to children. Meta rejected his appeal and permanently disabled the account. Rastorfer says he was unable to reach a Meta human representative to discuss the decision or get further assistance in recovering his Instagram account.
“[It’s] ‘let me direct you to this AI person’ and then directs you to another AI,” Rastorfer says
After exhausting every avenue to recover his Instagram account, Rastorfer turned to FOX4 Problem Solvers for help saving what had become a crucial part of his career. The outlet was able to reach a Meta human representative, something Rastorfer said he had been unable to do. Meta acknowledged that the account had been disabled in error and restored it. The company did not respond to the outlet’s follow-up questions about what caused the mistake.
The incident comes after a growing number of Facebook and Instagram users have reportedly turned to U.S. small claims courts to recover hacked, locked or lost accounts after being unable to get help from Meta. In some cases, the legal action appears to have helped users regain access to their accounts.
Image creditsHeader photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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