Instagram Restores Men’s Rights Advocate’s Account After BLP Contacts Facebook

Instagram restored the account of controversial men’s rights advocate Daryush Valizadeh, who uses Rush V as his online pseudonym, after Big League Politics asked the platform’s parent company, Facebook, for comment.

The big tech platform confirmed its decision to remove Valizadeh’s account was banned by mistake on Thursday evening, after previously banning his account within minutes of Chase Bank’s payment processor WePay doing the same.

Big League Politics reported:

Roosh V, real name Daryush Valizadeh, the controversial pickup artist and men’s rights advocate who stands accused of holding misogynist views, was banned from Instagram and Chase Bank’s WePay payment processing system after announcing his 2019 summer tour.

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Valizadeh was banned from Instagram and Chase Bank’s WePay late on Thursday night, on the same day he announced his 2019 tour.

Strangely, according to Valizadeh, his Instagram account was private. Users had to ask his permission to receive his posts, and Valizadeh had to manually approve each person. Ostensibly, this should have prevented users who did not share his views or respect them from being offended by them.

Instagram was not clear on what policies Valizadeh violated in its notice to the men’s rights advocate.

Chase has not yet provided an explanation for Valizadeh’s ban, and has expressed concern about whether it would be able to do so as the information may be considered private and privileged between the financial institution and the men’s rights advocate.

Valizadeh has been accused of holding misogynist views, and those who disagree claims he wants to legalize rape. Valizadeh and various fact checking organizations, including the politically left-leaning Snopes, have debunked these claims.

Earlier this week, Instagram reinstated a photo collage containing Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, and Milo Yiannopoulos, who Facebook considers “dangerous” and “hate figures” after Big League Politics requested an explanation for the photo’s removal.