Florida teen sues Instagram over deleted account, citing emotional stress
Florida teen sues Instagram over deleted account, citing emotional stress:- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A teenage Instagrammer who used her page to promote study routines and scholastic stationery is suing the social media photo giant for deleting her account.
The 17-year-old high school senior’s account – @studytosuccess – was closed by Instagram in September for what it called a violation of its terms of use, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Leon County Circuit Court.
At the time it was shut down, the account had nearly 124,000 followers. The teen, named in court records as E.S.W., also has a YouTube channel with more than 20,000 subscribers that remain active.
Her attorney, James Waczewski, said his theory was the account was deleted as Instagram worked to purge fake and bot accounts.
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He said thousands of accounts were deleted in July and again in September when his client’s vanished.
“We’re thinking the violations of the terms of use is an excuse for another glitch in their system,” he said.
The teen is seeking damages due to emotional stress causing nausea, discomfort and insomnia and monetary compensation.
But getting the original account back online is the main goal, he added.
“If it cannot be reinstated because they had a glitch,” Waczewski said, “we want at least for them to be accountable for what really happened and not say this account was deleted for violation of terms of use. But that’s not what happened here.”
A new Instagram account, @studytosuccessofficial, has been created and has drawn more than 8,000 followers. It notes the original account was “hacked at 124K.”
The lawsuit claims Instagram breached its contract, falsely purported its terms of use had been violated, and that the teen had been defamed by implying “she engaged in some severe misconduct that resulted in the deletion of her account.”
At the time she was receiving offers to run marketing ads for profit and products.
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The teen was reported to Instagram three times for posting two photos without credit or posting it in an improper place when she was first learning to use the account, according to the lawsuit. The issues were resolved with the removal of the photos.
Instagram gave no reason for terminating the page, but its terms of use agreement give the company authority to delete and monitor accounts at will. Guidelines also allow it to alter the terms of use as it sees fit.
In a response to a Better Business Bureau complaint, the company explained to the teen and her parents the account had been deleted from terms of use violation.
Attempts to reach Instagram were not successful Friday. The company has not filed a response to the lawsuit.
Source:- https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2017/10/06/florida-teen-sues-instagram-over-deleted-account-citing-emotional-stress/741467001/
