They Took Our Instagram

If you've been wondering where our Instagram page has gone, you're not alone. So are we. In May, with no specific warning and no clear violation, our account was permanently disabled.

Gone. Years of community building, product showcases, showing the equipment we used and customer interactions wiped out by someone not taking the time to look at our posts or check the IP addresses of the reporters to see they would all be linked and have a competing business (or two...!).

If this story sounds familiar, it's because it is. This isn't our first rodeo. Ever since 2021 when new shops started popping up on the scene to cash in, they've been attacking everything we have - from PayPal, Trustpilot, card payment providers, you name it. It took us ages of digging to figure out who was behind it all, but we eventually got there.

Recently (July-Oct 2026) we've been dealing with a particular relentless hacker using a Russian VPS and plaguing us like an obsessed nutter - we can't prove this person is linked to those shops down south, but whoever it is is super fixated on us and they really love using their 'Acunetix' vulnerability scanner like it's going out of fashion. We have hackers trying to break in every single day, but nothing quite like this.

Here's a tip script-kiddie: change your 'Acunetix' user-agent and don't scan so hard that we spot our CPU spiking - you stand out like a sore thumb.

Exploiting the 'Report' Button

We've seen this all before. When you're doing something right, and doing it well, you don't just attract loyal customers; you also attract the jealous eyes of competitors wanting to take top UK spot by any means necessary - we organically achieved and maintained ours for more years than these new businesses have even existed.

It's become shockingly easy for a malicious competitor, or even a team of shops, to mass-report a profile or its content. They can flag our posts for "selling drugs" - a complete falsehood, as our microscopy spores are perfectly legal to sell and possess in the UK. But does the algorithm know the nuances of mycology law in the United Kingdom? Of course not and they know that - after all, they are sell spores and grow kits between them.

Should We Do The Same Back?

It's all too easy to buy 10 cheap £10 phones, set up instagram accounts and spam a bunch of "Drug Selling" reports to the shops we think did this for an easy, swift take down of their profiles. But we couldn't stoop to their level. It would change us as people if we did. And if their profiles did get knocked offline, I can guarantee they'll pass the blame to us. No, we'll take it. We know they are just trying to protect their position they have won from us being away from the scene from 2023 till 2025.

What We've Lost (And What We Haven't)

We're not going to pretend this doesn't hurt. We lost a direct line to thousands of you, so many amazing folk we've known since the very beginnings when we had the balls to open the very first spore vender shop in the UK. We lost years of content that showed our passion and our journey from our 1-bedroom flat to the industrial unit and labs we built. There were so many random things we would post - it was fun. We lost thousands of followers on there.

But here's what they can't take away:

• Our Expertise: We've been at the heart of the UK mycology scene since 2017. We innovate, we test, and we provide the best products on the market. An Instagram ban doesn't change that.
• Our Quality: Our lab-grade spores and foolproof grow kits speak for themselves. The quality of our work is why we have so many repeat customers.
• Our Community: This is the most important one. Our community isn't just a follower count on a shitty Silicon Valley app owned by a prick that shadow bans anyone mentioning starving kids in Gaza. It's you. The people who read our blog, who buy our products, and who share our passion for the world of fungi and microscopy.

Where Do We Go From Here?

This is why we've always said it's dangerous to trust American big-tech.

If you haven't already, please do two things:

• Bookmark our website. Make Cylocybe.co.uk your primary source for our products and information.
• Add our new instagram profile: cylocybeuk (but we know they'll try their best to take it down again).

Thank you for your continued support. It means more now than ever.