Instagram says blocking Elaine Thompson-Herah from the platform was an ‘accident’
Facebook says blocking Elaine Thompson-Herah from Instagram was an accident.
On Tuesday, after making history as the only woman to defend her Olympic titles in the 100 and 200 metre races, Thompson-Herah tweeted that she has been blocked from the platform for posting videos of the races as she did not have own the rights to do so.
“I was blocked on Instagram for posting the races of the Olympic because I did not own the right to do so. So see y’all in 2 days,”
Her tweet sparked backlash against Instagram.
However, a spokesperson for the social media juggernaut Facebook, which owns Instagram told NPR news, that blocking the fastest woman from the platform was an accident and that her access was quickly restored.
Evidence of this is seen as Thompson-Herah later posted to her Instagram stories, informing her followers that the block was cleared.
The International Olympic Committee’s social and digital media guidelines, states that Olympic athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Games are able to share Olympic Games content on their personal social media accounts, with some restrictions.
Under Instagram’s Terms of Use and Community Guideline, a user can only post content to Instagram that doesn’t violate someone else’s intellectual property rights.
