Meta said on October 18 that reading activity associated with a Claude tool triggered the mistaken suspension of the No Kings Coalition’s Instagram account the day before. The explanation came after the Coalition’s account was taken down during its early-voting day of action. Bloomberg reported Meta’s explanation in a story republished by Yahoo Finance.
Meta’s explanation pointed to rapid reading activity
Meta said the tool accessed Instagram profiles, posts, and hashtags in intense bursts at roughly four times the normal rate. The company described the abrupt, high-volume sequence of requests as resembling bot traffic. Its initial explanation on October 17 had referred to unusually high posting, sharing, or commenting; the later account identified reading activity.
The reported activity involved reading Instagram content. Meta’s automated security system made the suspension decision.
The Coalition reported two restoration milestones
The No Kings Coalition said in a post on October 17 that its account had been taken down at about 1:30 p.m. ET and that it had received no notice or explanation at the time. The Coalition’s post came during its No Kings: Vote Early day of action.
Bloomberg reported that the account became publicly available again after about 90 minutes. The Coalition said its administrators regained full access at 5:33 p.m. ET that day. The organization described Instagram as an important channel for reaching supporters during its early-voting push ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
