Instagram has apologised after wrongly disabling an artist's account for a month.
The social media platform blocked the user's account - which has the handle @metaverse - just days after its parent company Facebook rebranded as Meta, although it's not been said whether or not the issue was linked to this change.
Instagram has since apologised and restored technologist and artist Thea-Mai Baumann's account, noting it was “incorrectly removed for impersonation”.
In a statement to the New York Times, they added: “We’re sorry this error occurred."
According to the reports, her account was opened in 2012, and she used the @metaverse account for both her creative work and an augmented-realtiy business called Metaverse Makeovers.
She has vowed to turn her experience with Instagram into art, but admitted - despite her followers now having around 2,800 followers, up from fewer than 1,000 before the Facebook rebrand - the account being disabled hit her hard.
She explained to the publication: "This account is a decade of my life and work.
"I didn't want my contribution to the metaverse to be wiped from the internet."