Instagram allowed the account that posted a gory image of a slain teenage social media infulencer to stay active for nearly a day — and at one point even put a “sensitive content filter” over the sick picture and continued letting people view it, according to reports and information from the company Monday.
The image of 17-year-old social media influencer Bianca Devins with a slit throat was posted by her 21-year-old boyfriend, Brandon Andrew Clark, with the caption “I’m sorry Bianca” at around 6:40 a.m. Sunday, according to a screen-grab from Buzzfeed News.
Adv.
- Sun Winning Ind Co: Manufacture of Canvas Bag, Recycle Bad in China
- TheUniTravel.com : Find the latest travel and tourism news from around the world. Stay informed with travel news and updates
By Sunday night, Instagram placed the image behind a blurred-out “sensitive content filter” screen, meaning at least one user had reported the image as offensive, according to Buzzfeed.
But users continued to view the photo by simply tapping the screen — because the company hadn’t yet deemed it in “violation of its guidelines.”
Instagram didn’t disable Clark’s account, @yesjuliet, until Monday morning, according to a spokeswoman for the firm, Stephanie Otway.
“We disabled the @yesjuliet account for violating our policies. We have also taken steps to prevent others from re-uploading the content posted to that account to Instagram,” Otway said in an email.
She declined to say what time the image of Devins’ body was removed. She also didn’t return a request for comment about why it took Instagram roughly 24 hours to deactivate his account.
A rep for Instagram later said: “Our goal is to take action as soon as possible – there is always room for improvement. We don’t want people seeing content that violates our policies.”
On Sunday, Clark allegedly posted the gut-wrenching image of Devins’ dead body then cut his own throat and posted that photo on Instagram, too, police told The Post.
After news broke on social media of Devins’ killing, users flooded Clark and Devins’ Instagram profiles, including her @escty account, which had some 6,000 followers before the slaying, according to Buzzfeed.
In the comment section of the photo, some users began posting that they were showing off photos of Devins’ body — and asking people to follow them.