Some stars have broken the guidelines already set by social media companies that resulted in them being temporarily suspended or banned from the applications.
- Oct 18, 2020
AceShowbiz - Social media is a double-edged sword. While it's highly effective in delivering information wider and faster in this new era of globalization, inappropriate use of such applications as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram can help spread misleading or negative messages that in turn may lead to provocation, violence or worse.
Being public figures with tons of followers, not all celebrities unfortunately have been using their platforms solely for good purpose. Whether they realized it or not, some of them have set bad examples of the wrong use of social media and subsequently faced the consequences of violating the guidelines already set by these social media companies.
Learning from their mistakes, let's take a lot at some celebrities who have been banned or suspended on social media due to their controversial posts.
1. Rose McGowan
At the height of the #MeToo movement, Rose McGowan was so passionate about exposing Harvey Weinstein that she forgot to keep her tweets within the guidelines. Her account was temporarily suspended after she accused Ben Affleck of lying about not knowing the disgraced producer's history of sexual misconduct. Twitter later explained that her account was locked because one of her tweets included a private phone number, which violated the company's terms of service. Her account has since been unlocked after the 12-hour suspension.
2. Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Handler is one of those who often challenge Instagram's strict nudity policy. Not one who is shy to show her skin, she freed the nipples in one of her photos shared on the platform in 2014. But she clearly chose the wrong platform to share her message of embracing one's body. The company suspended her account for posting the topless photo and removed the said pic, prompting the comedian to complain about the sexist rule. She later reposted the photo on Twitter where "my followers have the right to choose," so she snarked.
3. James Woods
A staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, James Woods apparently has one of the POTUS' bad habits, which is spreading misleading information on Twitter. As a consequence, he has been locked out of his account multiple times. One of the instances was when he shared a hoax meme that said it came from Democrats and encouraged men not to vote in the midterm elections. The "Salvador" actor was notified by Twitter that he can use his account again if he deletes the tweet, but he refused to do so, insisting, "Free speech is free speech."
4. Tory Lanez
Back during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Instagram Live was more often used by celebrities to engage with their fans, with Tory Lanez's "Quarantine Radio" being one of the most-watched shows. Perhaps getting carried away by the rising interest in his program, the "Luv" spitter let some girls show nudity to entertain other viewers, which clearly violated the company's community guidelines. Needless to say, his Live feature was temporarily locked. The ban was only lifted after Tory sent Instagram a copy of his then-forthcoming album "The New Toronto 3", according to the Canadian rapper.
5. Kathy Griffin
The controversy over her 2017 video in which she held a fake decapitated head of Trump never dampened Kathy Griffin's spirit to be a vocal critic of the president. In May of this year, she once again expressed her disdain for the Commander-in-Chief with a tweet that suggested Trump should be stabbed with a syringe full of air. When The Washington Examiner noted that such procedure may lead to fatality, the comedienne confirmed that it was her supposed message. Needless to say, Twitter suspended her account after receiving numerous complaints, with a spokesperson saying, "We've required the account owner to delete it before continuing back to Twitter."
6. PewDiePie
PewDiePie's sense of humor clearly doesn't match Twitter's taste. The Swedish YouTuber, who has amassed more than 100 million followers, almost lost one of his social media platforms after he made an ISIS joke. In 2016, the gamer, whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, tweeted that he would be joining ISIS with fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye. His account was restored less than an hour later and the 30-year-old explained that the ISIS tweet was his sarcastic response to a fake tweet that said he was unverified on Twitter "due to suspected relations with ISIS."
7. Azealia Banks
Azealia Banks is no stranger to controversial social media posts. Most recently, she wrote vile transphobic tweets as she attacked RuPaul and "RuPaul's Drag Race". "Cancel all these dumba** luxury transgender healthcare 'rights' and redirect the castration funds to the Latino farmers working to actually feed any of us through this crisis," she wrote in one of her tweets. This led to her account being temporarily suspended and her problematic posts being removed. But it was barely the first time she faced such consequence for violating the company's guidelines. Back in 2016, her account was suspended after she tweeted out a racist message to Zayn Malik.
8. Boosie Badazz
Boosie Badazz (a.k.a. Lil Boosie) was enraged when his Instagram account was deactivated. While he insisted that he didn't do anything wrong, it likely had anything to do with him sharing a link to his OnlyFans account, where he has been sharing NSFW contents. But that's just the tip of the iceberg as the rapper had in the past violated the company's community guidelines by showing nudity and encouraging his viewers to engage in sexual activity during his Instagram Live sessions. After unsuccessful attempt to get Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg, who also owns Instagram, to reinstate his account, Boosie eventually created a new page on the platform.
9. Rihanna
Even such beloved star as Rihanna didn't get an excuse from Instagram for posting a racy photo. The Barbadian songstress' account was briefly suspended in 2014 after she shared a picture that showed her naked backside. Her account was quickly reactivated with the photo in question being removed, but the "Umbrella" hitmaker took down the account, probably as a protest to the company's nudity policy. She moved the show to Twitter before eventually returning to the photo-sharing platform six months later. To this day, Rih still often posts her sexy pics on Instagram, though she manages to comply with the platform's guidelines.
10. Kanye West
After Kanye West's online rants made headlines and earned him tons of backlash in the past few months, Twitter finally found a reason to put a pause on his tweetstorms. In September, his account was temporarily suspended for a violation of the service's rules after he posted the phone number of a Forbes magazine editor. Twitter removed the post in question and explained that the 12-hour suspension was "in accordance with our Private Information policy." Upon his return to the blue-bird app, the Yeezy designer poked fun at the message that landed him in trouble, writing, "First tweet back ... without the phone number [laughing-crying emoji]."
