Meta is silencing the mushroom community. Over the past year I’ve witnessed countless mycology accounts deplatformed without warning, explanation, or any way to reach Meta for support. Last Friday, it happened to me.
Meta suspended my account after I shared a carousel that included a successful all-in-one grow gifted to me by Lady Hyphae and Full Canopy Genetics, two Colorado mycology businesses who have also been taken down (multiple times!) by the sweeping ban. While Instagram’s login notice to me was vague, Threads, an app I rarely use, provided a clearer – albeit completely misinformed – message:
For the record: Manifest2Heal is in full compliance with Colorado’s Prop 122. I’ve never attempted to sell magic mushrooms – or literally anything – on Meta. My posts are deliberately written to remain within guidelines. To suggest that I am selling illegal products is not only inaccurate but reads less like an automated error and more like a malicious, targeted attack. What strikes me as especially odd about my suspension is that Meta offered, and I joined, a limited-time Creator Bonus payout program recently. If my mushroom content was truly an issue, why would they have invited me to be a part of that?
Although I’m relieved to have my account reinstated after appealing, the experience leaves me uneasy. The line between what’s “acceptable” and what isn’t on social media platforms is incredibly blurry in the mycology world right now. Considering the time and energy I’ve poured into the app engaging and building my community, I’d sure appreciate stronger security to protect the stability of my account status.
Speaking of community, I was definitely the most devastated to lose my amazingly supportive network – one that had grown to 13k followers over 4 years – in a blink of an eye. A friend in mycology messaged me when he saw I’d vanished, worried I’d been banned just as he had been months earlier. He lost both his personal and business accounts in one blow and described it as a “mini murder.” I understood exactly what he meant. The grief of believing that all my connections and efforts had been suddenly erased is hard to describe.
Needless to say I’m grateful for this website, where I can post freely without fear of sudden erasure. In addition to recipes, I will also now share a blog focused on psychedelics.
So, to the beginning of something new. Thanks for being a part of this journey.
In case you’re curious, here are the images of the post I decided to delete once I was reinstated. Thanks again for the magical all-in-one Cambodian grow @lady_h_co & @fcgenetics3.0!
