Meta has apologised for suspending the Instagram account of the “No Kings” protest movement over the weekend, saying a sudden surge in activity appeared to be driven by automated bots rather than genuine users, Reuters reported.
The suspension took place at the same time with the movement's third wave of “No Kings” rallies, held at thousands of locations across the United States on Saturday. Protesters criticised US President Donald Trump's policies, including his crackdown on immigration and the war in Iran.
What Meta Said
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Organisers and rally-goers lost access to the Instagram account for over an hour before it came back online. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on X that it took even longer to fully restore the organisers' access.
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Like most large platforms, Meta uses automated systems to spot and block suspected bot activity. Stone explained that Meta's network security systems had flagged a Claude tool scanning profiles, posts and hashtags. On October 17, he said, the volume of these requests suddenly shot up in short, intense bursts. Claude is an AI model developed by Anthropic, though Stone's statement did not identify who was running the tool.
“These abrupt, high-volume, sequential requests in a short period resembled automated bot traffic rather than an ordinary human browsing our systems. This activity caused our automated protections to incorrectly take the No Kings Instagram account offline,” Stone said.
“We want to reiterate our sincere apology for the error,” he added.
Organisers Want More
The coalition behind the rallies was not convinced. Writing on Bluesky on Monday, the No Kings Coalition said Meta's explanation “still doesn't add up.”
The group claimed the problem went beyond a single account, saying it had received reports that posts about the rallies and early voting had been blocked, limited or seemingly hidden across Meta's platforms.
“Weeks before an election, an apology isn't enough. The public needs answers, accountability, and concrete safeguards,” the coalition said.
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Rallies Across the Country
Rallies were held in a number of major cities, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle and San Diego. The day of action was also designed to get people to cast their ballots early ahead of the November 3 midterm congressional elections. In Washington, DC, demonstrators met at the location where Trump has proposed building a triumphal arch, urging people to vote early.
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