Nine months ago Instagram shut us down overnight. No warning or anything. We just woke up and it was gone. It was a s*** few days, not going to lie. Then we got to work.

Here's what we now know: it was the content. We posted stuff criticising the algorithm and Meta, and we questioned people who hold power. That's what did it. Which is funny, because Instagram hosts an absolutely staggering amount of personal attacks and open hatred every single day and nobody there seems bothered. But a calm, reasoned piece about how the art world actually works? That gets switched off immediately.

And honestly that should worry you a bit. Not just for our sake. When a platform removes the reasonable voices and keeps all the shouting, that's a free speech problem for everyone. Not a customer service problem for one account.

It also tells you something else. A ban like this is basically people with authority saying, very politely, please don't think too much. Thinking is dangerous, you see. You might get ideas.

Well. Crazy Peach exists to give people ideas. That's literally the whole job. We want you to think harder than the feed wants you to. Disagree with us if you like, we'd honestly rather you argued with us than scrolled past.

The boring but important bit: we're still in a legal battle with Meta. We're allowed to post again, but the original account isn't coming back, and we're still fighting that. If any compensation comes out of it, all of it goes straight back into supporting artists. Not to us, to artists.

And yes, we see the irony. We don't like Instagram. We're literally suing its parent company. But that's exactly why we're back. This is how we fight. We're walking straight into your territory and we're going to be as loud as we like in it.

Through all of this we never went quiet. We kept publishing on Substack and LinkedIn and anywhere else that would have us. If you stuck around through that stretch, thank you. Genuinely. You're the reason this didn't end at month two.

So. New handle, same noise. 👉 @crazypeach_art

The old account is gone, so this is home now. Come follow us over there and maybe drag a friend along too. Nine months later and somehow louder than before.