Meta says Claude AI tool triggered suspension of anti-Trump No Kings Instagram account

Meta said a Claude AI tool triggered the suspension of the "No Kings" protest movement's Instagram account on Saturday, which has sparked backlash among participants in the anti-Trump movement.

The "No Kings Coalition" said on Instagram that the account went dark for several hours "at the peak of a major day of No Kings activations for early voting."

"Even after visibility was restored, we still had no access to the account for hours," the account said.

In a Sunday post on X, Andy Stone, Meta's vice president of communications, wrote that the tech giant's engineering team found that a Claude AI tool accessed Instagram profiles, posts, and hashtags at roughly four times the normal rate, which triggered the company's automated security systems and took the account offline.

"An automated re-review of the removal action an hour later recognized that shouldn’t have happened and restored the account," said Stone. "It unfortunately took additional time for us to straighten out the situation with admin access to the IG account."

However, the coalition disputed Meta's explanation, saying it "still doesn't add up." The group said it has received reports that the "NoKing" hashtag and early voting content had been restricted or seemed suppressed across Meta's platforms.

The No Kings Coalition is a network of advocacy groups and has organized nationwide demonstrations against the Trump administration since last year. The movement has framed its protests as efforts to oppose what it describes as authoritarian overreach, and has recently shifted its focus toward boosting voter turnout ahead of the November midterm elections.

The coalition noted that millions of people participated in nearly 3,000 voter events nationwide on Saturday.

The Latent has reached out to Meta and the coalition for comment.