This Instagram Account Was Deleted for Exposing Creepy Dudes

Mar 30, 2016 @ 4:05 pm By Ashley Uzer

Some Instagram accounts become popular because the photos involve half-naked girls, and some Instagram accounts become popular because they’re absolutely hilarious.

@CommentCasanovas was a beautiful marriage between the two. The Instagram account featured photos of celebrities, Instagram models, and other popular accounts, along with the creepy, aggressive, and downright bizarre comments that were made by dudes on their photos.

Unfortunately, @CommentCasanovas’ account was apaprently deleted late last night. Its founder thinks this was because of an angry commentator who was uncomfortable with the fact that his creepy comment, which was previously posted on a model’s photo, was being published on the @CommentCasanovas Instagram page. We’ve reached out to Instagram but they haven’t gotten back to us yet.

Either way, you’d think Instagram would support someone who’s exposing creepiness on their platform, not shut them down.

So why was an Instagram account deleted for re-posting material that was already on the site? Why are borderline-harassing commentators not chastised, but those who call them out are? We spoke to the creator of @CommentCasanovas, who has chosen to remain anonymous, about the account’s origins, Instagram’s policing, and what went down last night.

“Originally, the purpose of the account was to get some laughs,” the creator told Galore. “A testament to this was the fact that I initially [hid] the identities of the commenters.”

As the creator continued with the account, his motives changed.

“As I spent more and more time trawling pages to find content, I became increasingly shocked and disgusted,” he said. “The proliferation of unsolicited, crude, sexual and absolutely disgusting comments was nothing short of horrifying. After a while, I realized there was more to this than humor. It became evident that these kind of comments are an epidemic on Instagram.”

A post from before the founder decided to hide the usernames of the commentators

The creator’s solution was to take the account to the next level by identifying the users who wrote these creepy comments.

“I decided to reveal the identities of those responsible and start mentioning them in the captions in addition to tagging them,” he said. “I became even more passionate about the account, especially after the countless comments and direct messages I received applauding my efforts. I started to think how I would feel if my sister or girlfriend was subjected to these kind of comments.”

Naturally, as the account quit hiding the identities of commentators, backlash occurred. The account had garnered around 40,000 followers as of yesterday. But, after one of the commentators got angry about being featured, he reported the photo to Instagram, and Instagram swiftly deleted it, according to the creator.

And after @commentcasanovas posted a screenshot of the angry commentators message, the creator claims Instagram chose to delete the entire account.

Screenshots of the angry commentator

Instagram has always had a pretty WTF approach to the way it controls its content. Instagram has even censored celebrities like Rihanna when she posted her topless Lui cover last spring. But while we can kind of understand the reasoning behind censoring nudity, we don’t quite understand the censorship of comments that are already being posted on Instagram’s public domain. Why is it okay to comment lewd and inappropriate things on women’s photos, but not to be confronted about it?

Instagram’s reasoning for deleting @commentcasanovas post was apparently because he was “targeting individuals,” he said. But weren’t the commentators targeting themselves by posting unnecessary comments on a public social media page?

“It was simply the embarrassment and humiliation that resulted in [the commentator] feeling like he was the victim,” says the page’s founder. “Instagram was essentially condoning his behavior by deleting the post.”

The offensive comment that resulted in the deletion of the Instagram account

So why are dudes pursuing girls in ways that they are embarrassed about? Yes, some things are meant to stay private, but if you’re acting in a way that you’re ashamed of, maybe you shouldn’t have done that in the first place. Plus, these comments weren’t made in private, they were made in public, on a social media platform used by millions of people around the world.

“I think Instagram’s censorship in this instance is ridiculous,” the account’s creator said. “I am not creating any offensive content, I’m simply compiling content that is already on the platform in a creative way to make a statement. A statement that women are being openly harassed thousands of times, if not millions of times a day. My aim was to bring this issue to light and cause people to think twice about posting these type of unsolicited comments in the future. The only way to change people’s behavior is for their actions to have consequences.”