Big Tech Will Not Broadcast Your Dissent
For all our billionaire social media leaders’ claims to be free speech warriors, they seem to have spent the last few days cracking down on it. As the midterm elections approach—a high-stakes race not only for both parties but for Silicon Valley, which faces the prospect of AI regulation under a Democratic House and Senate—reports […]
As political tensions rise ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, major social media and messaging platforms are cracking down on dissenting voices, raising concerns about censorship. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has suspended accounts, including No Kings' Instagram account, for several hours during protest demonstrations, accusing the platform of detecting "intense" activity resembling bot traffic.
The company later acknowledged the mistake but stated it took additional time to restore the account. Meta also faced criticism for limiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Instagram account during his country's recent election, with some posts lacking a share button or reactions. The company denied any political interference, attributing the issues to technical problems.
TikTok suspended the account promoting the documentary about Elon Musk, citing "political content," but reversed the decision after being alerted to the error. The documentary's distributor, Bleecker Street, reported instances of TikTok rejecting paid posts due to political content. Meta, YouTube, and other platforms have also rejected advertising for the film.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
