Instagram made me money and gave me community. I’m still leaving. [Video]

Mark Zuckerberg stood up in the Senate hearing room on Capitol Hill, turned around, and began to speak. It was hard to hear him over the camera clicks. I felt the room lift behind me as bereaved parents held up photos of their dead kids, lost to suicide or exploitation following exposure to Zuckerberg’s online platforms. I realized I was standing by the time I could make out any of his words. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” he said. 

That was January 31, 2024 and less than a year later, Zuckerberg announced Meta would be abandoning fact-checkers and implementing similar policies to Elon Musk’s X. 

This deeply craven and dangerous reversal, ostensibly to reduce “censorship” from Meta platforms, will make Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp even more unsafe for LGBTQ+ users. That’s why, after 13 years on Instagram, amassing 80,000 followers, and having monetarily benefited from being an influencer, I am finally leaving Instagram.  

I initially joined Instagram because it was what all …