A mother influencer who had 14,500 followers on Instagram says she is “gutted” after the social media platform deactivated her account without telling her why.

Emily Sutcliffe from Lancashire has shared updates on life with her two children, as well as getting paid for reviews of prams, clothes and family outings.

After “years of hard work,” her account disappeared in just seconds, the 35-year-old said.

She was later told she had violated a policy, but she was not told when or how. Meta has been contacted for comment.

Emily is one of approximately 50 million people worldwide who earn money or receive free products and services through social media.

The amount spent by brands on social media users who promoted their products last year reached £27 billion ($35 billion) – a five-fold increase in five years – according to the supplier statistics Statista.

A new trade group that represents influencers, Influencer Marketing Trade Body (IMTB), warns that too many social media accounts are being deactivated without a “consistent” reason being provided.

“They are careerists, they are not just amateurs,” said Ben Guthrie of the IMTB.

“They rely on content, sponsored content and advertising from platforms as a source of revenue.”

Safiyah Bennington, of influencer marketing agency Connect Management, said many people who were just starting to want to “document their lives” had been able to “create a life supported by the platform”.

Mr Guthrie told the BBC that “content creators” deserved “a right of rapid response from platforms” as well as “written procedures” with “clear timelines”.

Emily makes much of her content at her home in Bacup and began her story while pregnant with her now three-year-old son.

She said she had a deal with a stroller and car seat company and was also offered free and paid promotions for hotels and theme parks.

Emily wondered if she could use her account to help her work part-time after maternity leave or even make it a future career.

But these brands can no longer see the content they paid for on her deactivated Instagram account, although her TikTok and YouTube channels are still active.

The message sent to him by Instagram stated that the account, or activity on it, did not “meet our community guidelines for integrity or authentic identity.”

Emily spent three weeks trying to appeal the decision, but said “it just felt like you weren’t going anywhere.”

In reports to the European Commission, Instagram owner Meta said it removed “millions of infringing content and accounts” every day, while TikTok said it “banned more than five million accounts” for breaking the rules in the first six months of the year. This year.

Posts resulting from commercial agreements with brands must also comply with advertising regulations.

Emily said: “If I was told it’s this image or this post that’s breaking the rule, then at least I could look at that and think I know where we stand,” she said.

“I think it’s really unfair because there are creators who work really, really hard and I know of bigger accounts who have 150,000 followers and theirs have been disabled.”

She has since been targeted by people she suspects of being scammers on Instagram and YouTube, offering to get her old account back in exchange for money.