Kanye West Restricted On Instagram—Again—Four Days After Returning To Platform

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Kanye West’s Instagram account was restricted on Monday, a spokesperson for Instagram’s parent company Meta confirmed to Forbes, after he made a disparaging post about “Jewish business people,” only four days after West returned to the platform following a previous suspension that came after making antisemitic remarks.

Kanye West aka Ye is seen on October 28, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

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Key Facts

Content posted by West—whose legal name is Ye—was deleted by Instagram and his account was restricted, the Meta spokesperson said, because the rapper violated some of the social media service’s policies.

Meta did not specify why it took action on West’s account or which post triggered its decision, but said it places restrictions, like preventing a user from posting, commenting or sending messages, on accounts that repeatedly break its rules.

Several of West’s posts remained active on Monday, but one post from Sunday was noticeably absent: A screenshot of West texting someone named Russell in which he said “I gotta get the Jewish business people to make the contracts fair Or die trying.”

Another controversial post from West remained active on Instagram but was flagged as containing “graphic or violent content,” showing a photo of the deceased Emmett Till’s deformed face after he was lynched in 1955.

In the caption of this photo, West criticized Endeavor talent agency CEO Ari Emanuel, one of the first people to call on companies to cut ties to West after the rapper made antisemitic remarks, and claimed to be the victim of “digital lynching” and “economic lynching.”

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In another post that remains active on Instagram, West shared a picture of Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving, who this weekend came under fire for posting about an antisemitic film, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, on Twitter, which he has since deleted. “There’s some real ones still here,” West said about Irving.

Key Background

West has made repeated antisemitic comments on Instagram and Twitter and in interviews this month, including saying he was going to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” He also spread false information about the death of George Floyd, saying he died from fentanyl use—a claim that caused Floyd’s family to say they plan to sue him. West’s remarks prompted several of West’s biggest corporate partners—Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga—to end their deals with him. Losing his Adidas partnership, which made Yeezy shoes and was responsible for a majority of his wealth, caused West to lose his billionaire status, Forbes reported.

What To Watch For

When West was previously suspended on Instagram, he was invited to use Twitter—a platform he used to post on several times a day—by Elon Musk, who was in the process of purchasing the site. Shortly after, West was also restricted on Twitter, following an antisemitic tweet. Now that Musk is in control of the social media platform, it’s unclear if West will again return there, or whether his content would be restricted under Musk’s leadership.

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