If you’re all excited about seeing Janet Jackson live, and looking forward to taking some video of a stick figure somewhere off in the far distance, then calm down and consider leaving your phone at home. Fans who have posted brief videos of the singer’s US tour to Instagram have found their videos taken down and their accounts deleted.
Initially, fans received an email telling them “a third party reported that the content violates their copyright”. Others have then found their accounts suspended.
The New York Post reports that Instagram is claiming the removals are not deliberate. “We have identified a bug that resulted in the removal of accounts that shouldn’t have been removed,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We have fixed the bug and are in the process of restoring the impacted accounts.” However, the spokesperson then said “repeat offenders” would have their account suspended.
However, as the Post and other news outlets note, she is known to take a stern view on copyright protection. The producer Seven Aurelius has said his SoundCloud and YouTube accounts were deleted after he posted an unreleased song he had recorded with her in 2003. Jackson’s team denied the song, S.E.X.L.I.N.E.S. was anything to do with her, insisting: ““Miss Jackson has no interest in being associated with this song since she did not write it, produce it or perform in it. It is a hoax.”
Jackson’s Unbreakable tour comes to the UK in 2016, with arena shows in Birmingham, London, Glasgow and Manchester at the end of March and the start of April.
The Guardian has contacted Jackson’s UK publicist for comment and will update this story if any is forthcoming.
