Meta Apologizes After No Kings Instagram Account Suspended During Protests

Meta has apologized for the temporary suspension of the No Kings movement's Instagram account during nationwide pro-democracy protests on Saturday aimed at increasing early voter turnout.

The account went dark for several hours on Saturday, according to organizers. Leaders of the coalition said the main account was down for roughly 90 minutes, while nearly 3,000 No Kings events took place that day, Newsweek reported.

Meta said the suspension was a mistake by an automated enforcement system. The company said the action was triggered "when accounts post, share or comment at very high frequencies," The Guardian reported.

Spokesman Andy Stone said the automated action against the account was taken in error and that the system was now functioning normally. He said high-volume reading of profiles, posts and hashtags in intense bursts had led an artificial intelligence tool to mistake the activity for automated bot traffic.

Stone said an automated re-review about an hour later reversed the removal, though additional time was needed to restore administrators' access to the account. The No Kings Coalition said on Sunday it had regained access to its accounts and described restricting communications about voting in the middle of an election as unacceptable.

Organizers disputed the explanation, saying they had posted only a handful of times on Saturday while livestreaming to thousands of viewers. The group said "Meta owes us an explanation" and raised concerns about censorship after losing access during the protests.

The outage drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday that billionaire ownership of the media had resulted in the suspension. Senator Chris Murphy called for an investigation into what happened.

House Judiciary Democrats said Meta owed the organizers and the American people an explanation for silencing No Kings and undermining its Day of Action, a term the group used for its coordinated early-voting effort.

The incident follows earlier scrutiny of Meta's handling of political accounts. In 2025, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit by Donald Trump over the company's suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts.