Instagram user 'annoyed' after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry take his username
The social media user claims he did not grant permission for his username to be changed
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Your support makes all the difference.A social media user is accusing Instagram of taking his handle so that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could launch their own account
Kensington Palace announced this week that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had launched their own Instagram account @sussexroyal. Just one day after launching, the account gained over one million followers, breaking Instagram records.
However, driving instructor Kevin Keiley, whose username used to be @sussexroyal, claims the social media platform changed his handle without his permission, to enable the royal couple to launch theirs.
"I got a jokey text from my son which said 'Ha ha, I see your handle has gone then'," Keiley told to Radio 1 Newsbeat about the moment he became aware of the change of username.
"I thought, 'What's that all about?' He said 'Look on Instagram' so I looked on Instagram and suddenly my handle wasn't @sussexroyal anymore it was @_sussexroyal_
"It had been taken."
Keiley says he used the handle to reflect his devotion to Reading FC and his home county of Sussex.
While he didn’t post often on the account, Keiley did use it to like and follow other people’s posts.
However, the social media user claims no one from the royal family or Instagram contacted him to acquire permission to make the username change.
Instagram has since released a statement, claiming that Keiley's username was swapped to “avoid digital squatting” – the creation of accounts with the aim of preventing others from using them or for the purpose of selling them on.
Keiley told the radio programme he hasn't been on Instagram since learning of the username change and that he is "annoyed" that a representative from the social media platform didn't contact him.
"I'm a bit loath to use Instagram until I have a chat with them personally,” he adds.
Keiley also has the username @sussexroyal on Twitter.
"I can tell you that Twitter's gone mental. I used to have four followers and in 24 hours I've gone up to about 198," he states.
"What I'm trying to do is keep tweeting therefore they can't take it if it's active. I don't know what the royals are planning down the line."
Keiley also says people have started to troll him on Twitter since news of the username clash came to light.
"I didn't ask for this. I've had the account for years - it's not very pleasant," he said.
"We just put up with it don't we? I'm sure famous people put up with it millions of times a day."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Instagram follower count currently stands at 3.4 million.
On Wednesday, the account posted a photograph of Prince Harry visiting the YMCA in South Ealing, London.
The Independent has contacted Instagram for comment.
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