Klara Fowler

NAME: Klara Fowler
PLATFORM & USERNAME: Insta – @klara_fowler
CENSORSHIP: Shadow Ban

What reason was given for your ban?

Since posting the guys wearing underwear, I noticed that my posts became invisible to my followers and it stayed this way for years.  Showing skin on IG is punished by shadowbanning accounts.

Why do you think your post(s) was censored?

Showing too much skin/ underwear in shots.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

I couldn’t appeal, there’s no way to do this for shadowbanning.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

I and my posts became invisible to my followers and it had a big impact on my work later.

I had a period when I stopped shooting because what’s the point of having an account if IG doesn’t let me showcase my work? I doubted myself and my work.

Then I learned about what a shadowban is and I understood immediately – there is nothing wrong with my photography. This algorithm is just pretentious, sexist and unfair. Shadowbanning is a passive-aggressive way to force artists to either leave Insta or change their content. Not cool. At all.

What’s one thing you want people to know about this topic?

Never f*cking give up.

Art and creativity will always find their way to shine even when platforms like IG try to suppress them.