Mara Illustrations

NAME: Mara Ridolfi
PLATFORM & USERNAME: Insta- @mara.illustrationsreal
CENSORSHIP: Account ban

What reason was given for your ban?

No reason.

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

Because I spoke out about a multinational company stealing my work.

Were you able to appeal and what was the response?

I tried to fill out the form on Instagram but no one contacted me or helped me.

What effect has your experience of censorship had on you?

In 2021 my old account mara.illustrations was deleted and I lost 31k followers/clients as I’m a digital illustrator.

A multinational with the verified badge used my illustration without my consent, for a sponsored post on their page,  and they deleted my signature.

l discovered everything through my followers, so I tried to contact the multinational but they didn’t answer me, so I posted a photo on my profile simply showing the original drawing with my signature and the illustration that they used without my permission.

The next day my profile disappeared without any explanation. I lost everything, I lost my clients, I lost my contacts and importantly my projects.

I had to start all over again and it still hurts a lot to talk about this, because it is not fair.

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

You need to have more than one social network as an artist – not only Instagram.