Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, explains as best as he can why Boosie Badazz got banned and now the rapper is responding.
Lil Boosie has been asking back for his profile as the rapper’s constant infringement of the social media app’s user agreement sees him permanently banned, at least from the old profile he had. The rap veteran’s constant call out to Instagram has not gone unnoticed, but the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, explained the reasoning behind the recurring bans.
Boosie Badazz is among the most hilarious rap/hip hop personalities around, and no doubt his absence makes fans miss him. His penchant for controversy is also unparalleled, and this has landed him in hot water more than once.
However, it seems that when it comes to Instagram’s policies, no one is above that law.
The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, in an interview with The Breakfast Club, noted that the popular platform has a line that users cannot cross.
“You’ve gotta draw the line somewhere,” he says after host Charlamagne Tha God specifically asks about Boosie’s page. “It’s a nudity policy. We try to be clear. You can appeal but if you have too many strikes, things happen.”
However, his co-host, DJ Envy, noted that there is a double standard when it comes to applying the policy, noting that he has flagged photos of Kim Kardashian many times, but nothing has happened.
“Remember when Kim posted the picture of her nipple one time?” he asks, prompting a flabbergasted reaction from his co-hosts. “Why would you flag that, why does it bother you that?” asks Charlemagne.
However, not letting up, Envy noted that the policy has to be standard across the board.
“Because!” he states. “They taking everybody else down! So I flagged it.”
Mosseri, however, says man nipples are allowed, but the female nipple will not fly with the folks at Instagram!
Charlamagne brought the conversation around to the unique issue of culture, which in one space might be acceptable but could be offensive to someone reviewing content if that person can’t appreciate the culture.
“Does Instagram understand culture though?” Charlamagne says. “Lil Duval, Lil Boosie whose page always be getting taken down. It could be for doing things like using the n-word. But they’re using it in the context of that’s my n-word. But it will get taken down for racial slur.”
Mosseri does admit that Instagram lacks diversity when it comes to the nuances of culture.
“It’s tough,” says Mosseri. “We don’t understand culture perfectly at all. You can’t at our scale. So there are things we have to draw the line or define a rule that is practical for us to actually enforce because the perfect rule would be nuanced but the perfect rule we cannot enforce accurately and consistently, you know tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of time a day. So there are certain racial slurs you cannot say on Instagram, regardless of how you identify them.”
Mosseri notes that Instagram has decided that keeping that in mind, it’s better for them to be transparent about the rules so users can accordingly follow them.
He added that persons who disagree always have the option not to use Instagram.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Boosie is ever going to get his account back. The rapper, though, has noted that he wanted one of the hip hop black billionaires to start a social media app that will be used to promote aspects of black culture others are uncomfortable with.
Boosie Badazz has since responded to the interview thanking DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God for “exposing these people.”
“@mosseri CAN U GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE LIKE YALL DO THE REST OF THE WORLD SHOW THE WORLD THAT IG FAIR,” Boosie said while sharing a video of himself pleading with the Instagram head to give him his page back.
