An ASMR twitch streamer with 1.6million followers on Instagram claims she's being extorted by someone who says they'll stop Instagram from removing her photos if she pays thousands of dollars a month.
Kaitlyn Siragusa, 25, who goes by 'Amouranth' on Twitch stream - a streaming platform where Siragusa posts ASMR videos - has had nearly a dozen of her Instagram photos removed for 'violating Community Guidelines' since June.
Days after the first incident, the Houston-based streamer received an email from someone who claimed to be a content moderator for Facebook and Instagram's tech firm Cognizant, asking for monthly payments of 0.25 bitcoin - approximately $2,600 to ensure her photos are not removed.
'I'm sure you've noticed recently than [sic] many of your posts and stories have been removed,' the email read. 'Perhaps we can reach an agreement privately.'
Siragusa - who makes a living by video streaming, online modeling and relies on Instagram to promote herself - first received a notification from Instagram on June 1 alerting her that one of her posts had been taken down for violating content guidelines.
The photo showed her standing poolside in a skimpy bikini, like many of her other photos, and did complied with Instagram policy, she said.
The blackmailer signed the email as 'Tampa', which is the where the Cognizant office is located.
But Siragusa told the Huffington Post that she didn't think much of the emails and assumed it was a scammer who was reporting her posts and posing as a content moderator.
That was until the following month when blackmailer 'Tampa' emailed again following another one of her photos being taken down.
'I am sure by now you have noticed that two additional posts have been struck and removed. Your posts made on April 3 at 10:18 AM, and July 2 at 11:54 AM,' said one one emails. Another stated: 'July 12 at 10:34 AM.'
'When I saw the timestamps, that's when I got concerned,' Siragusa told the Huffington Post. 'I realized this was probably an actual person with Instagram.'
Instagram timestamps are only visible to the users who upload them. She confirmed the timestamps that Tampa listened were correct.
Siragusa contacted her agent who arranged a recorded phone call with Facebook - which owns Instagram.
During the 20-minute call, Siragusa's agent explained the extortion plot by a self-proclaimed Instagram content moderator.
'I can't answer for the emails that you're receiving,' the representative responded in the recorded call obtained by the Huffington Post.
The representative said that Siragusa's posts had been 'rightfully removed' for being 'sexually suggestive.'
One of the photos that was flagged for 'nudity or pornography' included a photo of her in a Hooters uniform pouring water on herself
The representative said it was removed because she had 'her hand near her chest, and things like that,' and 'she's, uh, pouring water on herself'.
'I feel like it is almost impossible for individuals - even those with millions of followers - to face down Facebook,' Siragusa said.
Siragusa has come under fire for posting Twitch videos where he spewed racial slurs, including the p-word and n-word.
In a statement to the Huffington Post, a Facebook spokesperson said that the representative Siragusa's agent spoke to 'isn't versed in the details of the Community Guidelines nor is it their responsibility to communicate them.'
The tech giant assured that the Siragusa's photos were flagged as spam or nudity by artificial intelligence and not from user reports.
Facebook added: 'We take accusations like this very seriously. We investigated this matter and did not find any evidence of abuse.'
Each time a photo is removed, Instagram restricts activity on the account for 14 days - meaning Siragusa's account has been stripped for weeks on end - which has impacted her business.
She has been warned that if she breaks the rules again, her account could be disabled.
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