Delete Account With Metaverse Name, Here's Instagram Response!

Instagram deletes the account with the name Metaverse. (photo: apk. Mody)

JAKARTA - An artist who has had an account named "Metaverse" for almost a decade has finally been deactivated by Instagram. This incident occurred a few days after Facebook changed the name of its parent company to Meta.

The owner of the @metaverse account is Australia-based Thea-Mai Bauman. It is known that Bauman created his Instagram account in 2021. He often shares uploads while studying fine arts in Brisbane, as well as his trip to Shanghai, where he founded an augmented reality company called Metaverse Makeovers.

Its products include Appcessories such as Metaverse Nails, which allow users to embellish themselves with virtual glam.

"Your account has been blocked for pretending to be someone else", Instagram said in a notification to @metaverse.

Bauman alone had less than 1,000 followers when Instagram's parent company, Facebook, announced in late October that it was changing its name to Meta. Currently, he has around 3,000+ followers.

However, Instagram's decision to deactivate his account hit him hard, "This account is a decade of my life and work. I don't want my contribution to the metaverse to be removed from the internet", Bauman said quoted by BBC International, Wednesday, December 15.

After his account was deactivated, Bauman tried to restore his account to no avail and it was only after being interviewed by the New York Times, a month later, that Instagram admitted his guilt.

Instagram said the account was wrongly deleted due to impersonation, "We're sorry that this error occurred", Instagram told the NYT.

Baumann now says he will turn his account experience into art. But having worked on the metaverse for a decade, he also wanted to help ensure it was more inclusive and not undermined by Silicon Valley's errant tech brothers.