Half a year ago, I decided to enhance my social life by getting an #instagram account. Up until then, I had never committed to any Facebook product.

I played their game, and enjoyed it too. Never before had I felt so comfortable asking for strangers' contact info, and kept vaguely in touch with so many people.

Today, out of the blue, my account got banned. They don't say why, but I could appeal with a phone number, a verification selfie, and who knows what else, for a chance to get my account back. In the meantime I am unable to contact or even view my connections, and my account now shows to others as having zero posts or connections.

It's like my social graph is held hostage on their servers until I jump through whatever hoops they hold out for me. I'm not doing that, so with that my account, and all I invested into it, is lost. It was fun while it lasted. I guess I'm lucky that this happened after only half a year. I'm not making this mistake again.

This is the kind of experience that really shows the value of initiatives like #nostr, and to a lesser extent anything on the #fediverse. Holding the keys to your own on-line identity and being able to resist the whims of the coorporations that pretend to service you is incredibly important!