There is increased netizen interest in former AOA member Mina's return to posting graphic images of self-harm again on Instagram. Following her bullying story last year, Instagram was contacted to request a statement regarding the controversy.
As user reporting of graphic images, including self-harm, are one of Instagram's standard options, commenters have been curious as to why Mina has not had her account banned from the social media platform. On April 28th, a spokesperson for Instagram presented the following statement:
“Self-harm is a complex issue and our deepest sympathies are with anyone affected by it. We don’t allow graphic self-harm on Instagram, and we’ve removed the image from Mina’s account. Our policies around self-harm, which we’ve developed together with safety experts, are designed to strike the delicate balance between giving people the space to talk about their experiences and seek support, while protecting others from harmful content. That’s also why, while we’ll remove any graphic content, we don’t disable people’s accounts for sharing their struggles with mental health.”
While previous reports assumed that Mina was the one to remove the most recent graphic image, it appears from the statement that Instagram instead took direct action.
Instagram has detailed rules about what can and cannot be posted on the platform and also takes action behind the scenes for the benefit of users with mental issues, including directing them to support systems. In 2019 Instagram's user rules were modified, and additional steps were taken for the benefit of vulnerable users.
Mina's posting of graphic material in the past did lead to her receiving urgent medical care.
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As they should. Yes the graphic images could be sensitive to others but she should not be banned. She is expressing her pain, frustration, and struggle. It may not be the best way to do it but remember that mental health is pretty much a taboo in SK. They probably do not have very good trained professionals and would rather just put their patients on medication to stimulate robotic like happiness instead of working with them to help them gain true happiness. Mina is sick, we all know it. She needs help and we shouldn't be encouraging her to cut privately or handle this privately because its obvious that she can't. And why should we force her to leave social media? Because she can't handle the haters? Well theres other platforms where she can and does receive hate, theres hate mail, sasaengs, articles, interviews, headlines, and people who can just track her down and say mean comments. Is she supposed to just stay indoors and cut off communication with the world because other people can't muster to show her human decency? Yes she has support and she has many fans her love her but hate comments still hurt. All of those Jimin stans hate her. Some AOA stans hate her. She has a lot of haters and its hard to deal with but she can't make them stop and she can't avoid it because even if she gets off of Instagram there's plenty of other ways they can get to her.
Dont bother responding to this to disagree because I suffer with suicidal thoughts and depression. I know what its like to be massively hated on and feel alone. I have a lot of empathy for Mina. I am not saying that her posting graphic images online is okay I am saying that I understand why its happening. Its not to torture fans or upset people its just because she can't handle living. Shes struggling so much and while she has been going to therapy for 10 years now its obvious that its not helping her. Try and put yourself in her shoes. Try being nice and showing her some human decency before she ends up like our other beloved fallen idols who have committed suicide due to online haters.
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