News from Civsy, based on generative AI tools and retrieval-augumented real time data searchA UK campaign calling out Instagram’s failure to protect users from scams has become a case study in how Big Tech power can mute public criticism. The billboard series, created by London agency Insiders and organised under the hashtag #IgnoredByInsta, was pulled by outdoor media buyers shortly before launch, after they reportedly said they did not want to appear to support a message that directly criticises Meta, one of their major clients. What began as a call for better user safety on Instagram has turned into a snapshot of how dependent the advertising ecosystem has become on the platforms it is supposed to scrutinise. UK. Coverage of the case, and the linked petition and posts, start appearing between 21–26 November 2025
A public plea for human help on Instagram.
The campaign was developed with scam victims and consumer advocates to highlight rising account takeovers, identity theft and financial fraud on Instagram, and the emotional fallout when people cannot access real human support. Insiders mirrored the look and feel of Meta’s own glossy outdoor ads, but replaced lifestyle imagery with visuals of hacked profiles, anxious users and unresolved support tickets, centring the human cost of being locked out while criminals impersonate victims to friends and followers.
Victims, advocates and a petition for action.
Organisers paired the billboards with a public petition, “Make Instagram (Meta) more accountable #IgnoredByInsta”, proposing measures such as emergency account freezes, real‑time human triage in crisis cases and transparent reporting on the scale of scams and hijacks. The coalition includes individual victims and UK consumer support groups who document financial losses and psychological harms tied to platform scams.
Insiders founder Josh Clarricoats explains that the agency “hacked” a Meta ad to focus on the human behind the hacked account, hoping to reflect the emotions of people who have gone through scams.
Media buyers blink when big clients are watching.
When the posters were booked to go live, outdoor media firms backed away at the last minute, citing the risk of jeopardising Meta’s commercial relationship if they carried a campaign framing Instagram as failing on user protection. No regulator intervened and no court order was issued; the brake was applied by private intermediaries whose revenues depend on the very company being criticised.
Fraud ads soar while support lags.
The campaign lands amid reporting that users can be exposed to large volumes of misleading or fraudulent ads on Meta’s platforms, with internal material suggesting scam‑linked advertising generates significant income. Consumer groups argue that this imbalance, highly optimised ad systems versus limited human remediation—leaves victims stuck in automated processes while money disappears and reputations suffer.
Safety promises collide with platform power.
Meta promotes “brand safety” to reassure advertisers their campaigns appear in suitable environments, but critics say user safety receives weaker, slower protection, especially around scams and account hijacks. The #IgnoredByInsta episode exposes a tension between shielding advertisers from reputational risk and allowing critical messages about platform harms to share the same public spaces.
When public space closes to public criticism.
Billboards are one of the last mass public canvases in cities, used by brands, NGOs and artists to define social problems and responsibility. Here, that canvas was effectively closed when the message targeted a powerful platform buyer, showing how commercial dependency in media infrastructure can silence criticism without any formal censorship.
Culture‑jamming meets concentrated market power.
Insiders’ creative approach “hacked” Meta’s visual style to reveal the person behind the hacked account; the media buyers’ refusal shows how fragile such interventions become when they collide with concentrated buying power. For campaigners and artists working on platform accountability, #IgnoredByInsta is a warning that challenging digital giants also means confronting the advertising systems that decide which critiques are allowed to be seen at street level.
