Changes to our social media

In summary:

• The bad: we are no longer on Instagram
• The good: we are now on TikTok
• The neutral: There are no changes to our use of Facebook, email, or this website

You may have noticed we have not posted to Instagram in the past week. This is because our Instagram account @banksia_journal has been disabled.

We were initially suspended. I learnt of this last Thursday, 27 February, and appealed that morning. The appeal process involved providing an email address, phone number, and images of myself to prove I am in fact a real person. Shortly after I sent this appeal, our Instagram account was permanently disabled.

The reasons given are:

• Posting fake reviews
• Starting a romantic relationship in order to take someone’s money
• Money laundering

We hope it is clear that we have done none of these things.

We do not post fake reviews.

Our social media, including Instagram, is used to talk about the stories and authors published here in Banksia Journal. These are all stories I genuinely enjoy; I wouldn’t have published them otherwise. When we share our stories, it is in the hope that more people will find them, and enjoy them too.

We are not laundering money.

We also occasionally post about our shop, where you can buy ebooks, device wallpapers, or Redbubble prints to help fund Banksia Journal. This gets very little traffic from Instagram, and brings in very little money. Banksia Journal is a passion project, primarily funded out of co-founder Lauren’s own pocket (we still encourage you to buy something if you want to support us, and the authors we publish; just $10 covers Simon Petrie’s story “Optimal”).

I don’t even know where to begin with the romantic relationship thing.

@banksia_journal is not the only account to be banned recently: Vinessa and Lauren also lost access to personal Instagram accounts.

At the same time, Instagram filled many people’s feeds with videos depicting graphic violence. This is another issue Vinessa was unfortunate enough to experience, before her account was disabled.

So, we will no longer be using Instagram.

Instead, we have started a TikTok account! Our handle is @banksiajournal. This is something we have been thinking about for a while; we know TikTok is a very popular platform, with a thriving book community. We hope to reach new people who will enjoy Banksia Journal’s stories.

There is nothing to see on our profile yet, but we plan to start by uploading videos previously posted to our Instagram Reels. New videos should be in the works soon.

In the meantime, you can still find us on Facebook, get updates from our email newsletter, and of course check in here on our website.

If there is anywhere else you would like to see us, please, let us know!

That’s all for now. We will be publishing our next regularly scheduled story in a couple of weeks, on Friday, 28 March.

Brittany Lee

website | more storiesBio

Brittany Lee is the co-founder, and editor of Banksia Journal. She is a writer from Perth, Western Australia, with a BA in Linguistics, and Postgrad Diploma in Journalism. Her work has appeared in AntipodeanSF, Dusty Attic Publishing, and Perth’s Raine Square Story Dispenser. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and taking photos of flowers (such as banksias).
You can find her online at brittanyerinlee.com.

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