Meta is allegedly deleting LGBTQ and plus-sized business Instagram accounts

Up until Oct.

3, Los Angeles-based lingerie brand Cantiq had over 100,000 followers on Instagram .

Designer and owner Chelsea Hughes told Mashable that Instagram was its number one source of traffic and revenue — the lifeblood of the gender- and size-inclusive brand.

Then, seemingly without warning, Instagram owner Meta banned the account, and Hughes' personal Facebook was also suspended.

The account was restored on Oct.

9, but not before personal strife from Hughes and public scrutiny, including Mashable reaching out to Meta about the incident.

"I can't even get into…the Meta Business Manager app," Hughes told Mashable on a phone call while the account was down.

"I can't access anything.

So ten years of work down the drain." SEE ALSO: Instagram put a warning on Florence Pugh's 'Cornell 7' post.

Why? Hughes believed this was the work of discriminatory AI.

In March, Meta announced plans to enforce its content guidelines with advanced AI models.

"If you are a 3X and you're wearing the same bra as another person in an extra small, that AI will scan and say that that 3X person is showing more skin just because they have a larger body," she said.

"It is not about them being more sexual.

It is not about them selling sex or anything like that.