Instagram deleted the America First Policy Institute’s account Wednesday morning without any explanation.
Brooke Rollins, founder and CEO of the organization, announced on X that the account, a1policy, was banned at 8:49 a.m. The organization appealed at 9:10 a.m. only to receive another message from Instagram at 9:16 a.m. disabling the account. After publication of this story, amid an outcry from conservatives, Instagram restored the account Wednesday afternoon.
“After posting graphics highlighting the radical Left’s duplicity and egregious double standards relating to Hunter Biden’s failure to honor a congressional subpoena, this morning the America First Policy Institute’s Instagram account was suspended and deleted by the leader in Big Tech censorship, Meta,” Rollins said in a statement.
She added, “Once again, when the Left is confronted with the facts, they do everything in their power to silence and censor those with whom they disagree, including removing their opponents from the ballot.”
The Daily Signal asked Instagram to explain its decision, but did not receive a response. A spokesman for AFPI said the organization would continue to press for answers.
AFPI’s account had 39,000 followers on Instagram. After it was deleted, the organization created a new account, a1policy2.0.
In 2021, AFPI supported former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Big Tech CEOs from Facebook, Google, and Twitter (before it was sold to Elon Musk). Rollins promised to take immediate legal action against Meta, the parent company of Instagram.
Instagram’s decision prompted conservatives to express outrage at Big Tech censorship, a problem the Media Research Center has documented extensively at CensorTrack. Its database includes more than 6,000 documented cases of censorship.
The Heritage Foundation’s Kara Frederick, director of the Tech Policy Center, said Big Tech companies should suffer consequences if they censor political content or other constitutionally protected opinions. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.)
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