Kanye West’s Instagram restricted for 30 days for violating platform policies

By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Kanye West’s Instagram account has been temporarily restricted for 30 days, after violating the platform’s policies.

The US rapper will not be able to post, comment or send direct messages during this time, and content was removed from his account.

It comes as West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, continues to face a backlash over antisemitic comments he has made on social media.

Last week he was escorted from the LA office of footwear brand Skechers, as well as being dropped by Adidas – a move that cost him his billionaire status.

West used the alternative messaging platform Parler, which he is in the process of buying, to announce he had once again been penalised on Instagram.

US media outlets reported that the rapper had made a disparaging remark about “Jewish business people” in a conversation that he had screenshotted and posted to his page.

A Meta spokesman confirmed to the PA news agency that content from West’s account had been deleted for violating its policies and that the account had been restricted.

PA understands that the restrictions will be in place for 30 days.

The spokesman added that such restrictions are put in place on users who repeatedly break its rules.

West’s account was previously locked for 24 hours in March, following a string of online attacks he made against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s then-boyfriend, SNL comedian Pete Davidson.

At the time Meta confirmed that content from the account was also deleted for violating its policies on hate speech and bullying.

Other fallout from the rapper’s antisemitic comments have included being dropped by talent agency CAA and the Balenciaga fashion house.

Last Wednesday, Madame Tussauds in London said it had moved its wax figure of West from public view and into the museum’s archive.

West has long been an outspoken figure and was criticised earlier this month for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to the showing of his latest collection at Paris Fashion Week.

Following the controversy, Kardashian and members of her family have called for an end to the “terrible violence and hateful rhetoric” towards the Jewish community.

Following his comments, demonstrators in Los Angeles unfurled banners on an overpass on Sunday, praising West for his antisemitic public statements.