Instagram deletes account advertising ASU COVID-19 parties

PHOENIX (AP) — Instagram has deleted an account that claimed to throw “COVID parties” at Arizona State University after the school sued Facebook and the owner of the account on Thursday on allegations that the account improperly used the school’s logos and trademarks.

“We have removed the account in question for violating our policies,” a spokesperson for Facebook, Instagram’s owner, told The Arizona Republic. “We disagree that the account infringes any trademark rights ASU might have.”

It is unclear who ran the account. ASU’s lawsuit names “John Doe aka ‘asu_covid.parties'” as the defendant alongside Facebook.

The university’s regents filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Thursday. The lawsuit said the account shared misinformation about the coronavirus with students and claimed to be throwing large parties as students returned for fall semester classes last Thursday.

The lawsuit also alleged the account engaged in the unauthorized use of the university’s trademark and school colors.

One alumnus threatened to cut off support for ASU because the person thought the account was affiliated with the university, the lawsuit said. The account also spread false information about the university, ASU argued. There has been no evidence that any person associated with the account held any coronavirus-related parties.

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