It’s been only a few weeks since the purported restoration of “free expression” to Instagram, and the word “democrat” has become unsearchable. While Meta has issued a statement characterizing the issue as a technical error, many users can’t help but notice the auspicious timing with the inauguration.
On Monday and Tuesday, Instagram users noticed that search results for the hashtags “Democrat” and “Democrats” returned the message: “We’ve hidden these results” and “Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content.” The issue was first reported by BBC News and later verified by Mashable.
Related
The complaints come conspicuously close to Trump’s inauguration, which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended after donating more than $1 million to the inauguration fund. The timing also coincides with announced changes to Meta’s content moderation policies, criticized as kowtowing to Trump and his right wing base.
Your internet debrief
Stay ahead of the most scandalous, hilarious, and mind-boggling internet content delivered directly to your inbox.
Meta, however, has insisted that the technical issue is unintentional and has affected both Democrat and Republican related search terms (the BBC notes that “Republicans” yields limited results, whereas the singular “Republican” yields over 3.3 million posts).
“There’s an issue affecting people’s ability to search for a number of different hashtags on Instagram – not just those on the left,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said. “We’re working quickly to resolve this.”
Social media expert Matt Navarra, for one, was not willing to let Meta off the hook, mistake or not. “In a hyper-partisan environment, even unintentional errors like this can escalate into accusations of partisanship,” he told BBC.
“If these issues are not resolved quickly they risk fuelling conspiracy theories and damaging Meta’s reputation.”
It’s hard to imagine Meta’s reputation getting any worse these days. After Facebook became nearly synonymous with misinformation and online radicalization throughout the 2010s, Zuckerberg announced an end to fact checking on the platform earlier this month. A volunteer-based community notes, similar to those used on X/Twitter, will now take the place of fact checking.
The hateful conduct policy has also been updated, allowing users to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill, and the company at large has ended its DEI program. “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird,’” the new policy reads.
While there’s no timeline yet on when the hashtags for Democrats will be restored, you can always have as much slur-ridden “discourse” as you please in the meantime.
Sign up for the INTO newsletter and get your twice-weekly dose of stories that shape the queer experience, culture, and lifestyle.
