The digital age has made free speech a complicated mess, and having algorithms, human moderators, or user-based reporting systems isn’t helping.
Such was the case for local tattoo artist Amy Black who has made headlines in the past for her work on tattooing over mastectomy scars. But those powerful images of her work didn’t sit well with Instagram who actually deleted her account leading to massive public outrage.
Black, who’s story has since been featured on Buzzfeed, first told her story to Self Magazine who has the details below:
On the morning of November 14, Black tried to log in to the Instagram account, and was informed that it had been deleted. She filed a complaint, but received a response from Instagram the next day saying that the account would not be reactivated. She was told that the content could not be recovered due to the photos being “sexually suggestive” and containing nudity.
Black immediately started a new Pink Ink Fund Instagram account, and used the hashtag #bringbackpinkinkfund to raise awareness about the account and its unfair deletion. After the story was picked up by media outlets like Mic and BuzzFeed, Black received a personal apology from an Instagram representative and was informed that the account had been reinstated.
As detailed, Black has since had the account reinstated, and she’s gotten tons of support from local and nation fans of her work. She’s even turned her moment in the spotlight into a chance to garner support for her PinkInk Fund project which helps support these tattoos.
You can find out more about PinkInk here.
“Tt was stressful but I am really happy about the exposure for the charity, and really touched by everyones support,” wrote Black in a facebook post after her story went viral. “Thanks for helping me not feel like i was helpless when something felt hopeless. Thanks for dealing with all the media posts and for offers of help, I am about to announce the charity’s first mastectomy grant recipient, and am very excited to share the story with you all.”
We profiled Black and her PinkInk project in a recent print issue of RVAMag, check out that story here.
