Meta, Be Better

M.G. Siegler: A couple years back, I was banned by Instagram. Because I happen to know a few people there, I got it resolved and my account back online relatively quickly. But I never got an answer for what actually happened. A few months later, I found myself banned again. Again, I pinged some people. Again I was reinstated. Again, I got no explanation other than someone – or something – messed up. Again. While those bans also instantly took out Facebook and Messenger, I was lucky that it left WhatsApp alone. Because, living in Europe, I’m forced to run a lot of my actual life through WhatsApp because it’s the service many people rely on here as their primary messaging service. Boy, it would suck if I was banned from WhatsApp. It’s an absolutely frustrating story. I deleted my Instagram account after regaining access for a similar no-reason ban in 2023, but Instagram is optional in the grand scheme of things. In the United States and Canada, WhatsApp is typically viewed as an…