I Got Banned by a Bot on the Full Moon

During the October (how fitting) full moon, I was ready to Burn Your Sh*t on Instagram, like I have for over 7 years.

Thousands of people join from around the world. It’s my signature ritual that helped me land a 2-book deal with HarperCollins and invitations to bring my work to Canyon Ranch and Kripalu. 

Instead, I got banned from Instagram Live. Effective immediately, for a year.

Here's why: a few weeks ago, I posted a big bowl of Jello (my main meal as I prepped for a colonoscopy) and commented "At least I get the good drugs?"

Instagram decided that this joking comment on my own picture was actually the illicit promotion of banned pharmaceuticals, and I was suspended for 3 days.

When I titled Monday’s Live ‘Burn Your Sh*t’ I was immediately hit with the year-long ban. Apparently, between the Jello joke and the Live title, the algorithm decided I’m a threat to public safety.

After spending 4 hours in Meta Verified’s support chat (which I pay for), dealing with a bot that repeatedly insisted it was human while giving me the runaround, I posted an update on Instagram, took a sleeping pill, and went to bed.

I woke up to hundreds of comments and DMs from female business owners, healers, and creators sharing their own experiences with Meta's seemingly arbitrary enforcement, often with no explanation and no real recourse.

Others had their Google business profiles disabled (mine was taken down without explanation in July, after a decade of 5-star reviews, and I can’t access support to learn why or open a new one). 

I’ve also seen women sharing screenshots of men threatening them with violence and Meta responding with "this doesn't violate our policies" (some of these women were suspended after calling the perpetrator dumb in a reply).

It's giving Handmaid's Tale. #blessedbethefruit

At first I was really, really scared. My business relies on reviews, referrals, and social media. It felt like the Tech Bros had a boot on my professional neck and it sent me into a panic.

Then I remembered I wrote a book about rituals for self-regulation and pulled out all the stops.

When my spiral subsided, I was able to channel my fury into planning how to pivot. I wasn’t about to let an algorithm determine my trajectory.

On Tuesday night, I took Burn Your Sh*t to YouTube Live and the replay numbers are already close to what I get on Instagram. For now, YouTube is where I’ll be doing Burn Your Sh*t, so please subscribe and you’ll never miss it.

The ominous part isn’t the ban…it’s the architecture. Social media is like a petri dish of the patriarchy: women doing the labour while men control the resources.

I’ve been doing tarot longer than Zuck has been alive, building a business and cultivating a community on platforms I don’t own, with landlords who can change the locks without warning.

The timing of it all was wildly witchy: banned on the full moon, trying to do the thing I’m literally known for (burning what no longer serves), getting kicked in the tenders by a platform that no longer serves me. #Andsoitis

Things are shifting. I'm looking at platforms where I’m not at the mercy of an algorithm that can pull the plug whenever it wants.

I’m so grateful for the comments and DMs of support, and for so many of you showing up the next night on YouTube.

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If you know someone who follows me on social media but isn't on this list, please send them here. Because at least this way, I can show up in your inbox without asking an algorithm for permission.