CINCINNATI — Everywhere you look, artificial intelligence is becoming more common. However, not everyone is happy with how it’s being used.
That includes Sarah Sexton, a tattoo artist with Spotted Cheetah Tattoos in Over-the-Rhine.
She recently opened her first shop on 15th Street between Republic and Race streets.
Sexton said she uses Instagram to conduct her business, including scheduling appointments with clients through messaging.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Sexton woke up to find her account was disabled.
"I immediately felt the panic in my chest, because that's how I do all of my business," Sexton said.
Hear why Sexton feels Instagram's AI made a mistake in the video below:
Instagram told her she violated community guidelines, but she said she has no idea what she did wrong.
"My page is just strictly tattoo work, so I'm a little concerned about what their guidelines could have been," Sexton said.
Sexton said she began to look into it and found that many other people are facing the same problem.
A quick Google search shows Reddit threads and news articles from those dealing with similar issues. There's even an online petition with more than 40,000 signatures asking Meta to fix the issues.
"They sent out a new AI system, and people are getting wrongfully flagged," Sexton said.
Sexton said the AI system Instagram uses has falsely flagged her page and many others. She immediately filed an appeal, but two weeks later she still has not heard back.
"Throughout the research that I've been doing, I'm seeing that people have been waiting for, like, six months, even a year," Sexton said.
Sexton said she tried contacting customer support with no luck.
"There is no email, there's no 'Contact Us' form," Sexton said. "There was really nothing I could do."
She even paid to get Meta verified on her Facebook page just so she could speak with a real person.
"I asked for a timeline," Sexton said. "I asked for, you know, is there any hope for me? And they're just like, 'Just keep waiting.'"
The wait is a big deal for Sexton because she cannot reach any of her clients through her normal means of contact. She said she tried to make new pages, but those were flagged immediately — even before posting any pictures.
"I've exhausted every effort I could think of in the past few weeks," Sexton said.
She’s worried about scheduling appointments in the coming months, but hopes her customers know she hasn’t forgotten them. Sexton said clients can contact her for now through email at spottedcheetahtattoos@gmail.com.
If this happens to you, how do you get it solved?
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t clear.
Appealing your suspension or trying to reach automated customer service hasn’t gotten Sexton or many others far.
"I'm at my wits’ end here," Sexton said.
We reached out to Meta’s media contact to learn how people like Sexton can resolve the issue. We are still waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, Sexton said she’s stuck playing the waiting game.
"I think they really need to look into the AI platform that they're using," said Sexton. "I know that the future is AI, and a lot of businesses are resorting to it, but just talking to a real person would be great."
