Boy who raised $940K for charity by camping for nearly 2 years getting kicked off Instagram

By Tom Bevan via SWNS

A boy who has spent nearly two years camping outside raising $940K for charity has been told by Instagram his account will be taken down - due to his age.

Inspirational Max Woosey, 12, has spent 670 days sleeping outside including exotic locations such as London Zoo, 10 Downing Street and Twickenham Rugby Stadium.

The schoolboy has now raised enough to pay the annual salary of TWENTY hospice nurses.

But he suffered a double blow over the weekend starting with strong winds destroying his tent on Friday night.

And on Sunday night he was told his social media account, that he used to help drive fundraising and update his supporters, was being removed.

He has used Instagram to promote his nightly activities and charity work to his 11k followers.

But despite it stating in his bio that the @the_boy_in_the_tent account was "parent managed" his family has been told it is in breach of the rules.

Instagram requires everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account and states: "Accounts that represent someone under the age of 13 must clearly state in the account's bio that the account is managed by a parent or manager."

Max has now posted on the campaign's Twitter page appealing for help and a petition was quickly launched by his supporters to block the removal.

He tweeted: "Help please, my Instagram is about to be disabled. How do we stop it? #getmyinstagramback."

He later added: "It is so frustrating."

His mom Rachael later confirmed they were desperate to try and stop the removal as all his accounts are parent-managed because of his age but it has somehow fallen foul of its algorithm.

(Woosey Famiy via SWNS)

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The plea has now inspired a campaign created by Austin Wallas, who wrote: "Young Max Woosey BEM, the second-youngest recipient of the British Empire Medal & The Pride of Britain award, has been notified by Meta - Instagram - that his account will face being disabled.

"Due to Max's age, Max's parents run and publish regular content showcasing his incredible fundraising efforts which support the North Devon Hospice.

"Max has slept out in his tent in all weather for over 22 months and raised over half a million pounds which has funded nursing staff throughout the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

"Let's all unite and show our ongoing support to Max and send a loud and proud message to Meta - Instagram & Mark Zuckerberg CEO that this decision is a poorly thought out one.

"This boy has done so much good."

The efforts of the inspirational schoolboy have been described as "insane" by the North Devon Hospice.

His sleep out began on March 27 in 2020 in memory of Max's friend and neighbor, Rick Abbot, who died in February 2019.

Rick, who was 74, had given Max a tent and told him to have an adventure with it, so he decided to camp out in the garden of his family home in Braunton, Devon.

His achievements have also seen him with a Pride of Britain award and one of the youngest recipients of the BEM in the New Year's honors list.

His challenges include his tent suffering a broken pole on Friday night and collapsing.

Max said he had switched to an "old" tent in the meantime to be able to continue his challenge.

In a video he put up on social media after the tent pole gave out, he said it was "unfortunate, but I'm going to have to live with it," adding it was: "Wind 1, tent 0."

He later added: "I had to go through with staying in it, but it wasn't my best night's sleep ever. A lot of my stuff did get wet.

"I've had to put an old tent up, which isn't the best."

Mom Rachael Woosey, 49, praised her son's staying power and the whole family are incredibly proud of what he has achieved.

She added: "He wants to get to at least two years, which will be to the end of March.

"We are so proud. He is such a lovely young man and has stayed very grounded about everything he has been through.

"He has raised an incredible amount really and not bad for sleeping in a tent. We are all so proud of what he is doing."

North Devon Hospice has said the money equated to almost 20 nurses working for 12 months.

At the time Max started the challenge the hospice was facing a £1m drop in funding ($1.4 m USD) because of the lockdown.

Instagram has been contacted for comment.

To donate visit here.