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plankton 12:23 Fri Jun 2
Instagram account disabled

My little girl, who's ten and a half, is a rising tennis star, bless her. She has an Instagram account with 1500 followers and has spent a year building up a following from all around the world that includes a few important coaches, two sponsors and even some of the present tournament pros. She's small, quirky, and hits like a lioness which endears her to everyone. On instagram she had a great collection of videos, tournament-win photos and general stuff, and she normally averages 400 views per post - all pretty heady stuff for a youngster but necessary in this day and age if you want to get anywhere. She played in her first international tournament this year in France against 11 and 12 year olds, and raised plenty of eyebrows, so the potential is there.

Anyway, this morning she woke to find her account disabled "for pretending to be someone else". WTF??

We've tried going down the usual channels on the forms offered by Instagram but none of them work - each leads to a dead end where something won't load, or fails to respond - a bizarre way to serve your account holders....there is no way to contact Instagram by e-mail or by phone, you have to go through their forms. We've tried filling the forms in on iPhones, Androids, iPads and so on - none of them let us finish the query. I know Instagram is not a paying service, nor a business, and it's all for free and we should be so lucky to have it, etc etc, and we shouldn't complain.......

Does anyone have any ideas or solutions that might have worked in the past for them? My little girl's heart is crushed at the moment - not just at the loss of the photos if she never gets her account back, but she's concerned about losing her sponsorship too if she can't get the account back up and running.

Before anyone asks, she's a good girl, not a brat, and we go without a bunch of stuff sh she can travel to tournaments and so on. No lottery winners here yet, unfortunately. Oh, and yes, I've wiped my knob on the screen etc etc. Mrs Plankton is commander-in-chief of the tennis department and oversees the account, in case anyone was wondering. And no, she hasn't wiped her knob on the screen.

Chigwell 10:25 Sat Jun 3
Re: Instagram account disabled

Have you considered Russian involvement?

FatboyChelseaScum 8:41 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

why are you happy that 1500 nonces looking at pictures of your child?

bruuuno 8:35 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

It's scary but plankton has a point. In so many walks of life these days you're just left behind if you haven't got a very active instagram account. It's the world we live in whether we like it or not

kch 6:12 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Found this after searching for "instagram minimum age uk":

Instagram requires everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account (in some jurisdictions, this age limit may be higher). If your child is younger than 13 and created an account on Instagram, you can show them how to delete their account.

If you'd like to report an account belonging to someone under 13 or if you believe someone is impersonating your child who's under 13, please fill out this form. In order to delete a child's account, we'll need to verify that the child is under 13.

(found on https://help.instagram.com/154475974694511/)

alfs barnet 5:02 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Bonds wrote...

"I hope she does and concentrates on her game and not on her Instagram"

Yeah, playing tennis and posting on instagram are mutually exclusive.

You thick twat.

Trevor B 4:17 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Bonds

I wouldn't suggest this is 'society', this is coming from a man who's daughter has aspirations of being a professional tennis player, no doubt they know many people around the junior and professional circuit and have taken advice from those in the know. clearly if you had read the OP and plankton's replies she isn't concentrating on instagram over her tennis, far from it, but to help with sponsorship etc she is putting herself in the public eye. again i would suggest this has come from advice given by those in the game and by seeing what other young tennis players are doing to help game and potential career.

I'm not quite sure why you felt the need for your holier than thou rant, you haven't qualified it with any knowledge at all.

Bonds 4:11 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

"all pretty heady stuff for a youngster but necessary in this day and age if you want to get anywhere"

Absolutely not true. And this is the problem with society thinking this FFS. She is 10!!

Her success is dependant on her skill/ability. If you have not figured this out yet, I hope she does and concentrates on her game and not on her Instagram.

Fuck me!

andywestham 3:23 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

this might have been pointed out already:
from Instagram's Guide for Parents...

Does Instagram have a minimum age?
Yes, it’s 13, which is similar to most other online services. But Instagram doesn’t ask users to specify their age, and there are many younger children who use the service, often with their parents’ permission.

Whether Instagram is “safe” depends more on how it’s used than on the age of the user, but Instagram will delete underage accounts if they’re notified and can verify that the users are under 13.

plankton 3:22 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Thanks for all the help people.

I think.

The problem has been resolved. I made a plea on my FB page this morning and a friend in London told me he actually knew someone who works for FB.

Long shot of it all is we have the account back, plus a humble e-mail from Instagram saying it was all a mistake. They couldn't give a flying fig how old she is, by the looks of things.

Thanks go out to Nurse, too, who said she fixed it. Cheers Nurse :) You never mentioned you worked for the FB management team..... :)

greenie1 2:20 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

I haven't read the previous responses ....

Instagram is a business, it sells its API. Even though they claim you still own your images when uploading, by Instagram selling their API to businesses, newspapers etc, this means anyone who buys the API can use your images for commercial / business purposes.
Instagram is also owned by Facebook, which is worth a few bob or too.

Account deleted, it may have been something to do with age restrictions for using Instagram. Or even someone just wanting to simply be nasty. I don't think Instagram can just shut down an account like that without prior notification, but it does happen and these social media companies will probably not keep your images on their servers and why should they if you don't pay for the service?
The images / videos your daughter or you upload, do they belong to you? could be down to an copyright infringement??
Also, in this day and age, social media plays a big part in getting seen / noticed. Does your daughter have other social media sites? also, does she have a blog or professional website? if you are heavily wanting to get her noticed, anyone who wants to be taken seriously should have a professional website, blog etc, and not just be relying on an Instagram account.
The contacts / sponsors you have made via Instagram, did you make a note who they were? did you save all images that were uploaded to Instagram?

El Scorchio 2:03 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Eerie Descent 1:50

Stop being a dick.

Of course it's partly about that. They go through the stuff quickly and it's not cheap. My mate used to need a new pair of tennis shoes every couple of weeks. Decent rackets are expensive and they have to be restrung all the time. It's obviously not about 'getting a free car' it's about providing the financial means to allow you to travel to places and stay there. Things like petrol and hotel rooms aren't free, are they.

As it happens my mate's mum as a single parent could no longer take him to all the tournaments in the end and he took up running instead.

Takashi Miike 1:58 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

best of luck to your girl plankton, its a massive commitment trying to get a kid to the highest levels in sports, so well done to you and your wife

Nurse Ratched 1:57 Fri Jun 2
Instagram users are mentally disabled

Fixed it for you.

Eerie Descent 1:52 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

You're right Trev.

Anyway, good luck Plankton, hope it works out, I find all this a bit odd but each to their own.

Eerie Descent 1:50 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

A free tennis racket and trainers? That's what this is about?

As for transport, is the hope for a free car? Give up their jobs? Let me let you into a little secret, that won't be happening for a 10 year old's parents.

And your mate wasn't good enough.

Mike Oxsaw 1:49 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

plankton 1:24 Fri Jun 2

Can your wife not set up a temporary instagram account with all the basic details (including what's happened to the original account), so at least the outside world has visibility (both ways).

Probably a pain to set up all the links again but you may only need to inform a few of your contacts and the information will propagate through the ether.

Trevor B 1:48 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Fucking hell ED, calm yourself down mate. It's Friday, the sun's out, go and feel it on your face and have a fucking cold beer. Enjoy!

El Scorchio 1:43 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

What?

Plankton's wife, who I am assuming is over 13 runs the account, according to what he's said.

Why wouldn't she need sponsorship at that age? Just because she's that age she doesn't get free fucking tennis rackets, trainers and transport.

I'm assuming Plankton isn't mega rich and therefore it's not that easy trying to fund his daughter's tennis career.

Besides which it's not for us to judge how he and his wife and daughter attempt to manage her career. The guy was just asking for a bit of advice on contacting instagram, not a lecture on how to run his life or raise his family.

Eerie Descent 1:39 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

Do you need telling again how old she is?

They don't let people that young have Instagram accounts, but you think she needs sponsorship?

Get a fucking grip.

El Scorchio 1:36 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

How many hours a week do you think she can possibly play tennis at that age? Every waking hour? No-one, even the current top pros do anything like that.

There's obviously time to do other things. Besides which Plankton has already said his wife oversees the account.

Sponsorship could be the difference between her being able to carry on and having to jack it in due to lack of money- probably before she's at the stage where she's really well known.

One of my friends at school was a very promising tennis player. Essentially his mum had to drive him up and down the country every weekend to tournaments. It's very difficult and it's a drain on whatever money is available, not to mention the rate at which they go through equipment. Sponsorship really helps you to get in a position to be able to win things. It's not as simple as just saying 'oh, win a load of stuff first and the sponsors will flood in'. You have to get to things and have all the equipment to be able to win them in the first place.

Eerie Descent 1:30 Fri Jun 2
Re: Instagram account disabled

And I'd add, if it's truly the only ambition, to be a great tennis player, once again, focus on that for now. She's 10 ffs!

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