Today, Instagram took down redfish’s page with no justification.

This is the second such ban this year, following Facebook’s – which owns Instagram – removal of our page last April.

Redfish tried reaching out to Instagram for clarification on the reason behind the ban, only to be met with ambiguous responses citing “privacy and security reasons” as to why they could not “disclose this information.” Facebook/Instagram did not appear willing to properly explain the rationale behind their censorship.

With over 419K followers, redfish had grown an active community of Instagram users who rely on our page for alternative news coverage centering the world’s most marginalized and oppressed populations and their causes.

In recent months, our social media department has been able to monitor and identify clear indicators of external suppression. From falsely labeling redfish as “Russian-controlled media” to repressing our total growth while our other metrics improved, it became apparent that redfish is under a politically motivated clampdown.

While we are not surprised by Instagram’s censorship, we view this latest episode of suppression as part and parcel of the platform’s crackdown on media sources challenging the mainstream.

#InstagramBringBackRedfish