A four-hour disruption can significantly limit No Kings’ ability to reach supporters, organizers said, highlighting concerns about the dependence of political campaigns and movements on privately owned social-media platforms. They warned that a similar incident on Election Day could have severe consequences, while lawmakers and state officials are pressing Meta for answers about the suspension of the No Kings Instagram account.
Four hours may not seem like a long time, but any disruption that makes it difficult to get No Kings’ message to people can have a major impact, Levin said.
“We are forced to use privately owned platforms to reach these people,” Levin said. “And when we use the platform, we are vulnerable to this kind of pressure, which directly undermines our ability to reach these people.”
If the same thing happened “in the middle of Election Day” and pro-democracy accounts were suppressed or shut down, it could be a “catastrophe,” Levin said.
Lawmakers and Congress investigate Meta
David Green, a senior adviser at the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Ars that the timing of No Kings’ Instagram suspension was “suspicious” and that Meta’s technical explanation was “a really incomplete answer.”
No Kings continues to demand that Mehta make all interactions with Trump public. Mehta also faces increasing pressure from lawmakers and state officials to change how support accounts such as No Kings are handled on Election Day.
Last week, a coalition of 14 state attorneys general sent a letter demanding a more transparent explanation from Meta about the suspension. By October 29, they had asked Meta to “detail a plan to ensure that legitimate campaign activities on the Meta platform are not disrupted.”
“This is especially concerning given the proliferation of AI agents being sold to consumers, including Meta, which is compatible with social media accounts,” the attorneys general wrote.
It was unclear whether the coalition’s deadline was met, but the attorneys general were not alone in expressing concern that, in the age of AI, Meta may be “unable to distinguish between legitimate political activity and bot activity that harms users.”
Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen sent a similar request, The New Republic reported, specifically asking why it took Meta so long to help administrators regain access. In Congress, House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee members Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin also sought answers from Mehta. Levin noted that if the election moves in a No Kings direction, those lawmakers could become future chairs of the committees.
Source: arstechnica.com
