What Recent Instagram Ban Means for Meat Lovers & Family Farms Alike
If you've been following along, you know that our small, second-generation family farm has been removed from Instagram. @ElwoodsOrganicDog, which had 15k+ followers and was disabled on June 22, 2023, was labeled as ‘Violent’ and 'Promoting Graphic Content'. (You can now find us @ElwoodDogMeats.)
We wanted to share a rare statement from our step-uncle:
We’ve been around since 1981. Since launching our social media presence in 2021, we’ve shown the *exact* *same* practices and processes as every other caring, wholesome family farm—often word for word. We use social platforms to offer full transparency, so you know what happens, from nose to tail, farm to table. We show the good, the bad, the legal, and the delicious. If folks are bothered by what they see on our social media accounts or our website, maybe they shouldn’t be eating animals at all.
- Elwood
This isn't the first time Meta has attacked our local farm, but it's the first time our appeal hasn't been approved. After sending 50+ appeals in 20 days, we've decided to call it a loss—this loss includes our 15k followers, nearly TWO YEARS of content, and the euthanization of 128 spaniels due to our inability to sell them at market weight.
This has DEEPLY impacted our ability to reach consumers. This violates our freedom to farm. And if Meta thinks it's okay to ban our family farm, they're essentially saying:
Ethical, organic, local family farms are violent. Animal farmers are criminals and meat eaters are sadistic. Accounts showing animal ag, hunting, and animal-based meats should be removed from social platforms.
-Meta
We have restarted our account, but in addition to the above, we want to point out that Elwood's Organic Dog Meat is simply the first of many. The anti-dog meat activists who reported our farm are likely to come after meat lovers and our fellow farmers.
Our family farm has always been under attack by extreme animal rights activists. We've been threatened with both personal harm and financial ruin. Our children have been insulted. We get HUNDREDS of angry calls. These "concerned citizens" REFUSE to talk with us about the agricultural practices we use at our farm. They simply judge without considering just how MUCH we have in common!
We LOVE our dogs. We take care of them as long as it is profitable. And most importantly: We’ve been doing this for 40 years. Are we perfect as an industry? No, but we're trying to be better all the time. We're improving in all aspects of animal care and comfort. We have strict rules and guidelines that must always be followed.
If you care about tradition, value farm-to-table ethics, and want to continue having access to delicious necessary organic meats, please support Elwood's Organic Dog Meat.
And please follow and share our new Instagram account, @ElwoodDogMeats.
Thank you,
The Elwood Family
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