This Taiwanese Cafe Has Banned All Influencers

Ah, the power of social media. Being an influencer is now a legit job, and a really lucrative one at that. People have literally risked their lives for the ‘gram, and there are actual apps to help you “curate” your Instagram feed.

But one cafe in Taiwan is done with influencers, like seriously.

Mittsume Desserts, a popular cafe in Taipei, Taiwan, is now banning all influencers. Why? Apparently, they just can’t stand people who habitually go overboard in their endeavours to snap an Insta-worthy shot.

They announced the ban on February 11 via Instagram, probably the best place to reach their target audience, with an unequivocal message: “From today onwards, influencers are strictly banned.”

Within three days, the aggressive post garnered more than 7,300 likes. It has also left netizens starkly divided on the issue.

“I will punish you with money and sincerity, restricting influencers is too much,” one Instagram user commented.

“A good shop without influencers, I can support,” reads another comment.

Now, the cafe’s thinly veiled disdain for internet celebrities is also inscribed on its Instagram profile: “From today onwards, no influencers allowed.”

Besides barring influencers from entry, the cafe has other requirements for its customers. “At least one drink per person, we will not receive groups of more than four people,” reads its profile on Instagram. “Please respect the space and other people, this cafe reserves the right to refuse service.”

And according to one of their Instagram Stories, those below the age of 16 aren’t allowed into the shop either, due to concerns on photo-taking.

The tirade against insensitive influencers continues in the same Instagram Story: “Forget that you’re taking photos. Forget that you brought your own decorations for the shoot. But do you think it’s normal to change your socks in our shop?”

Yesterday, February 13, Mittsume Desserts explained their new policy in an Instagram post with a long caption.

“With regards to the avalanche of comments that we’ve received, we’ve read them all, positive and negative,” reads the post. “But because of so many nitpicky people, we have to keep increasing and changing our regulations. When we have too many rules, people complain that we are arrogant.”

These rules include:

• No standing on chairs for photo-taking
• No taking photos with other customers’ meals
• No moving of shop furniture for photo-taking
• No outside food allowed
• No photographing other customers

“Think about it, are the above behaviours not common courtesy?” the cafe asked after listing down the rules.

The cafe then went on to explain why it’s closing its doors to influencers.

“We understand if you want to document a cake you ate today or a nice corner of the cafe; we will not interfere with that. We may even be amazed that this cafe can be photographed so beautifully.

“But contemporary internet culture and the culture of social media tagging has seriously crossed the line between strangers and infringed on the balance between shop owners and customers. All for a pretty picture of oneself.

“Some people have taken the liberty to shift other customers’ belongings just for a photo at that particular seat. When taking photos, the photographer would be positioned very close to other customers. Even though there was no physical contact, it was still within a proximity that would make others feel uncomfortable.

“We’re not an influencer cafe, our target audience has never been influencers. We don’t see the need to compromise for these people. After all, if we want to operate for a long time, we cannot rely solely on this demographic.

“We will not remove our no-influencers policy. We are not restricting photo-taking, but just hope that everyone can stay in their seats and not disturb others.”

It's not just the cafe that's done with influencers, some netizens are too.

“If you look at the Instagram posts tagging the location of this shop, you will see a bunch of people pretending to read. The most pathetic thing is some of these people haven’t read more than a few books in their entire lives and are pretending that they love books,” one comment reads.

So, of course, I went to check out Instagram posts location-tagged with Mittsume Desserts and as it turns out, there are a disturbing number of people posing with reading material in the cafe.

Well, to be fair, the cafe does have the perfect Instagram aesthetic. These people could really just love reading too. But it's safe to say that the obsession with getting a cute photo for the likes is making some people go overboard.

Find Koh Ewe on Instagram.