The permanent disabling of @johnhns: digital life and AI governance

Abstract This paper examines the automated disabling of the @johnhns Instagram account and the broader philosophical issues and questions it raises, including: (1) The opacity of algorithmic authority. The account was permanently disabled by AI systems that interpreted artistic interventions as impersonation or fraud, with no specific violation ever identified or communicated. (2) The practical limits of due process. Attempts to appeal the decision led only to AI-generated replies, redirection to non-pertinent business support channels, making it difficult to exercise rights theoretically guaranteed under European data protection law. (3) The asymmetry, speed gap, between quickly evolving technological infrastructures and the slower-moving mechanisms of law and policy. (4) The new forms of life developing in digital space and the ontological status of deletion. By permanently disabling @johnhns, Instagram effectively erased a digital presence, demonstrating how digital infrastructures exercise governing power over identity, memory and the conditions of social visibility. Finally, the paper situates the episode within broader debates about sovereignty, agency and the future of society.