Instagram Users Are Paying Brokers to Get Their Accounts Back Instagram users are being locked out or hacked, with little help from Meta unless they pay for Meta Verified. A black market of brokers is charging up to $1.2k to restore accounts through insider contacts. Meta fired employees and sued offenders, but the problem persists. AI moderation errors are suspected but unconfirmed, including disturbing errors like users being flagged for child exploitation from innocent photos.