Meta Platforms said an automated security system mistakenly suspended the Instagram account of the No Kings Coalition at the height of a nationwide series of demonstrations.
The technology company offered an apology and a more detailed explanation for the disruption, which came during the group’s early-voting push ahead of the Nov 3 midterm elections.
Instagram’s engineering team found that the accounts’ “reading” activity triggered the security system. A tool from Anthropic PBC’s Claude was accessing profiles, posts and hashtags at roughly four times the normal rate in intense bursts on Oct 17, Meta’s vice-president of communications Andy Stone wrote in a social media post on Oct 18.
“These abrupt, high-volume, sequential requests in a short period resembled automated bot traffic rather than an ordinary human browsing our systems,” Stone said.
Meta said an automated review about an hour later determined the account should not have been removed and restored it, though it took longer to return administrative access.
“We want to reiterate our sincere apology for the error,” Stone said.
The No Kings Coalition, an anti-Trump group, said on Oct 17 that its Instagram page was unavailable for about 90 minutes and that organisers remained locked out of the account even after it became publicly visible again.
Full access was restored at 5.33pm New York time on Oct 17 (5.33am Singapore time on Oct 18), according to the coalition.
Organisers criticised Meta for restricting the account during the demonstrations, saying Instagram was a crucial platform for communicating with supporters.
The coalition said millions of people participated in nearly 3,000 events in all 50 states and Washington in an effort to expand early vote access and defend election integrity.
Stone’s statement on Oct 18 did not specify which Claude tool was involved, who was operating it or what activity it had been carrying out in connection with the account. No Kings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The explanation clarified Meta’s initial account of the incident. Stone said on Oct 17 that unusually high rates of posting, sharing or commenting had triggered the company’s automated systems and that such activity had caused the No Kings account to be suspended. He called the action “clearly” an error.
No Kings, which has organised several anti-Trump protests since he was inaugurated, said it plans a national organising call on Oct 21 focused on turnout ahead of Election Day. BLOOMBERG