Remember that cheeky Instagram account @moscow_cabang_bali, which quickly gained a massive following for calling out undocumented workers and other foreigners misbehaving in Bali?
While many support the anonymous account’s activism, it’s admin has also received a number of threats. The account got briefly suspended in mid-March before being reinstated. But just a few days ago, Instagram suspended it, again, seemingly for good this time.
The account’s admin told Coconuts Bali they have decided to give up on the account, which had around 35,000 followers,
However, they already have a backup account, @moscow.cabang.bali, that many of its followers have already flocked to.
Regarding the first suspension, the account’s admin (who asked for anonymity due to the threats made against them) told us: “We submitted an appeal and it worked.”
“[But] this time Instagram requested us to ask the person who reported us to email Instagram requesting this account to be reopened, which is nonsense.”
The admin asked that Coconuts Bali not reveal the reason for their account being banned out of concern that their backup could be taken down in the same way. But they confirmed in an IG post that the person who reported them was somebody they had posted about previously.
@moscow.cabang.bali roughly translates to “Bali being a chapter or extension of the Russian capital”, although in an earlier interview with us they insisted it was just a parody of a character from the Netflix TV show Money Heist.
Established in February, the original account described itself as a provider of “free marketing service” to micro, small, and medium enterprises — a sarcastic dig at those making a living in Bali without a proper work visa. Many of its posts are screenshots of advertisements by foreigners who appear to be offering illegal commercial services in Bali such as tours, surf lessons and villa rentals.
The account’s administrator maintains that they do not specifically target Russians in their crusade. However, many of the reported cases of foreign nationals working illegally here happen to have involved Russians recently.
When asked whether they were being targeted, which resulted in the suspension, the administrator said they assumed so based on the sudden influx of followers that they have received.
“We will keep going on full force,” they said, when we asked them whether they would continue their crusade.
