It can be mildly frustrating when you try to create a social media account only to find that someone who shares your name has the username you want. But that’s apparently no problem if you’re a soccer star.
Andres Iniesta, a designer from Madrid, was on vacation recently when he discovered that his Instagram account (@ainiesta), which he wrote in a Medium post contained photos mostly of “his kids, yummy food and interesting buildings in Madrid,” had been frozen for violating Instagram’s terms of use. Iniesta said he didn’t think too much of it and went on enjoying his vacation, but then, his friends noticed they were being followed by a different Andres Iniesta: the soccer star and FC Barcelona captain.
Apparently, Instagram shut down regular-guy Iniesta’s account and completely repopulated it with soccer-star Iniesta’s account with absolutely no explanation. The designer says his account was restored five hours after he wrote about it on Medium, but he still didn’t hear from Instagram even after reaching out multiple times in the days leading up to his account’s restoration. However, he did hear from the Spanish soccer player’s management, who said they had nothing to do with the mix-up.
In fact, it seems as though the Barca midfielder would have no reason to try to take over some guy’s Instagram, as his official account (@andresiniesta8) contains photos dating back to almost two years ago. Instagram has only offered this apology in a statement to Gizmodo:
“We made a mistake here and restored the account as soon as we learned about it. Our apologies go out to Mr. Iniesta for the trouble we caused him.”
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
