A popular news website headed by Special Forces veteran Jack Murphy had its Instagram page deleted this week with the ambiguous notification: “Your account has been deleted for not following our terms.”
NEWSREP joins combat veteran Omar Avila in a spate of bizarre post and account deletions. While Mr. Avila had a picture of himself at an NRA event with Donald Trump Jr. deleted, NEWSREP had its whole account torpedoed.
“The only thing the NEWSREP managing team received from Instagram was a short email that hardly clarified the reasons behind what appears to be a permanent ban,” the company’s Facebook page posted Friday. “Your account has been deleted for not following our terms,’ said the email. ’You won’t be able to log into this account and no one else will be able to see it. We’re unable to restore accounts that are deleted for these types of violations.’”
“Veteran accounts are brimming with military posts which sometimes include graphic images from overseas,” NEWSREP continued. “Although NEWSREP doesn’t promote violence, we do our best to cover it alongside other breaking and important topics from across the world. And we don’t shy from the reality, which is often as brutal and as politically incorrect as possible. The social media giants might wish to avoid what is actually happening in the world and try to fabricate a bubble of ignorance where everything inside is nice and rosy — but we won’t.”
A new Instagram account — @official_newsrep — was created to continue sharing news with the platform’s audience.
“NEWSREP, of course, won’t give up so easily,” the statement continued. “What sets us apart from the Washington Posts and New York Times of the world is the fact that as a site, we are as apolitical as it gets, and we also interact with our readers — who comprise a loyal community of people who want the truth. Now, we need your help to share the new account with your friends to follow and support us.”
Mr. Murphy, NEWSREP’s editor-in-chief, served in 3rd Ranger Battalion and then in 5th Special Forces Group. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan three times while serving the nation and has reported from Iraq, Syria, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, and the Philippines as an investigative journalist.
He is also the author of “Murphy’s Law: My Journey from Army Ranger and Green Beret to Investigative Journalist”.
’Your account has been deleted’: Instagram targets NEWSREP and other veteran groups https://t.co/GZWvgL7HVq
— NEWSREP (@TheNEWSREP) May 10, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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