Iraqi digital media body reports Instagram accounts removed after AI malfunction

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Digital Media Center said on Monday that an unexplained malfunction on Instagram resulted in the deletion or suspension of dozens of user accounts, with the platform's automated systems flagging the profiles as rule violators. In a statement, the center said the accounts were removed after artificial intelligence systems acted on what it described as fake or malicious reports and issued rapid decisions without human oversight. Many of the affected accounts had not violated platform rules, according to the statement. The center called on Meta, which owns Instagram, to intervene urgently and restore the suspended accounts. It also noted that Meta's applications have periodically experienced global outages that have led to account losses for users. No immediate response from Meta was reported. Further details on the number of affected accounts and the timeline for restoration were not immediately available.