Boca Raton Girl Reported Missing By Family, Instagram Page Now Unavailable
BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2023) — Bayla Swid’s family says that she is in danger and her Instagram page has now been deactivated by her captor, law enforcement saying she is not missing.
Bayla Swid’s Instagram page now only says “Sorry, this page isn’t available.”
Bayla’s sister, Gemma Swid Leonce, now says on her own Instagram page that Bayla’s Instagram account was shut down by the man they say is keeping Bayla from her family. Prior to the page being shut down, Gemma was using Bayla’s page to share her concern about Bayla’s whereabouts in several viral posts.
A little background
Like many others, Boca Post first learned about Bayla Swid’s disappearance from a viral post on social media, originating from Bayla’s own Instagram account, apparently being run by Gemma for the moment. We knew we needed to help. We know there is more to this story, so we started digging.
While others were running with the story shared by the sister, we vetted it. We spoke to law enforcement officials familiar with the case.
We soon found out that Bayla was not actually missing, not officially. So, we published an article about her alleged disappearance, noting that the Police aren’t looking for her because they did that already. This was important because many on social media were asking questions like, “What are the cops doing?” and “Why isn’t this on the news?”.
Bayla’s sister originally posted on Bayla’s now-deleted Instagram, that the man Bayla was seeing had active warrants out for his arrest. In our private conversation with Bayla’s sister, she acknowledged that she had not verified the existence of any warrant. She did, however, provide information about a 10-year-old arrest of a suspect who may or may not be the man they say is responsible for Bayla’s disappearance.
So, of course, we reported the facts about Bayla Swid’s disappearance. We have since been harassed and ridiculed for it. No one wanted to hear that the family shared a post about a missing person days after learning that local law enforcement said she is not missing. But that’s what they did. The sister even specifically called the article “fake news”, citing that Bayla was legally missing. Hours later, she shared another post, acknowledging that Bayla is not officially missing.
Note, to spite the criticism, we never downplayed the situation. There is a good chance Bayla is in trouble with this guy. There is also a chance that she’s not. We only ever reported the verifiable facts. The fact is, the viral post shared by the family was shared after law enforcement decided Bayla was not missing.
The Instagram page
Now, back to Bayla’s Insta. The family is correct about that, it’s not working.
While the Instagram page can display the error message “Sorry, this page isn’t available.” for deactivated accounts, there are other possibilities. According to Instagram, an Instagram page can show that same error message for several other reasons, including the following applicable scenarios:
- The account may be shadow banned
- The account may be restricted for violating an Instagram regulation
So, while the account may be deactivated, it may also be something else. We have contacted Meta for an official answer but do not expect to hear back from the social media conglomerate.
Since Bayla was originally reported missing to PBSO, anyone with any information should contact PBSO directly, regardless of whether or not they consider her a missing person. Reference PBSO Case# 23-089503.
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