Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, said late Sunday that he was suspended from Instagram for 30 days. Ye posted a screenshot of an Instagram notification about the suspension on Parler, the conservative “free speech” social media platform, which recently announced Ye would acquire it.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the company deleted content from Ye’s account for violating its policies and placed a restriction on the account. Meta said it may place temporary restrictions on accounts that repeatedly violate its rules, which may restrict them from posting, commenting or sending direct messages. Ye’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Ye’s posts on Parler, he attempted to post a screenshot of a text message exchange on Instagram. Ye identified the other individual as Russell Simmons, the co-founder of the record label Def Jam Recordings. The New York Times previously reported that Ye and his label G.O.O.D. Music are no longer affiliated with Def Jam as of 2021.
In the screenshot Ye posted on Parler, the individual he identified as Simmons encourages Ye to “leave this fight and strategize” and “rebuild your biz.” Ye responds with a disparaging claim about “Jewish business people.” In his Parler post, Ye said he was “kicked off Instagram for 30 days” after posting the image.
Ye also posted a screenshot of a notification he appears to have received from Instagram. The notification in the screenshot said: “We restrict certain activity to protect our community. Based on your use, this action will be unavailable for you until 2022-11-29.”
The latest temporary suspension from posting on Instagram follows a series of disciplinary actions taken against Ye’s accounts on Instagram and Twitter. In early October, Instagram deleted content from Ye’s account and restricted it, but did not say what posts or actions violated the platform’s guidelines. Twitter also temporarily restricted Ye’s account.
Anti-hate groups like the American Jewish Committee have referred to Ye’s posts about Jewish people as “dangerous” and relying on antisemitic stereotypes about Jewish people. Ye was dropped from his talent agency CAA after his remarks, and companies like Adidas severed ties with him as weeks of backlash progressed. In a statement about dropping its partnership with Ye, Adidas said it “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.”
During interviews and on social media platforms like Parler, Ye has doubled down on his antisemitic views. He has since referred to himself as a “digital prisoner” due to the disciplinary actions taken against his accounts.
