Why Instagram, Twitter restricted Kanye West’s accounts

Kanye West
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 02: Kanye West attends the the Versace fall 2019 fashion show at the American Stock Exchange Building in lower Manhattan on December 02, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted by the social media companies for “an undisclosed reason.”

The decision was linked to some tweets from Ye which were largely criticized as anti-semitic.

Twitter has removed the first tweet for “violating the Twitter rules.” Later, West asserted in the post that he couldn’t be antisemitic and claimed that Jews had “toyed” with him.

He wrote, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”. The tweet has now been deleted.

“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” West added.

Later, he tweeted, “Who do you think created cancel culture?” This tweet is still very much on the site.

A restriction was put on West’s Instagram account a day earlier after the social media site deleted content from his account for violating its policies.

According to Variety, a Meta spokesperson confirmed the news and added that putting temporary restrictions on posting, commenting, and messaging is standard procedure for accounts that frequently violate the policies of the social networking platform.

In a now-deleted post, West, who goes under the name @kanyewest on Instagram, posted a screenshot of a message that was supposedly sent to the rapper Diddy and was denounced as anti-semitic by Jewish activist groups including the American Jewish Committee.

After being restricted on Instagram, West briefly returned to Twitter in the hours that followed, seemingly criticising Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the move.

This is not the first time Kanye West has faced Instagram restrictions. The rapper was taken off the platform in March for a full day. In that case, content from West’s account was also deleted for violating the policies against hate speech, bullying, and harassment.