Britney Spears’ conservatorship battle has sparked worldwide interest and concern over the pop star’s wellbeing, which made it all the more shocking to fans when the pop icon deleted her Instagram page Tuesday, suddenly cutting off her biggest platform to communicate with the public.
“Don’t worry folks … just taking a little break from social media to celebrate my engagement,” she tweeted the same day, adding her signature barrage of exclamation points and emojis. Though Spears has more followers on Twitter (55.5 million) than Instagram (34 million), it’s a social media platform she rarely utilizes.
“I’ll be back soon,” she promised.
As her conservatorship battle raged on, Instagram was where fans felt they could hear Spears authentically voice her feelings despite not having total control over her life. When those supporting the FreeBritney campaign were concerned she was being held back from participating in the legal battle over who controlled her estate, Instagram became the outlet for Spears to update the public on her thoughts. With that outlet gone, though apparently temporarily, some fans applauded her step back into privacy, while others showed concern that her primary form of communication with the outside world was removed.