No Kings Instagram lockout: Meta claims Claude AI tool triggered suspension of pro-democracy account

Meta communications chief Andy Stone acknowledged that an automated safeguard on Instagram, set off by a Claude tool, mistakenly removed the No Kings Coalition’s account. The pro-democracy movement opposes US president Donald Trump’s policies, executive expansion, and democratic backsliding.

What happened

The No Kings Coalition said on Saturday that its Instagram page was down for about 90 minutes, and that organizers stayed locked out of the account even after it became visible to the public again. The group said full access came back at 5:33 p.m. New York time.


News agency Bloomberg reported the development.

The No Kings campaign has staged multiple protests since Trump’s inauguration.The removal came at the height of a nationwide series of demonstrations, just as the group was pushing for early voting in the run-up to the November 3 midterm elections.

The organisation criticized Meta for restricting the account while the demonstrations were under way, saying Instagram is a key way for them to reach supporters.

Meta’s statement

The technology giant apologised for the disruption, and Stone said the trigger was the account’s “reading” activity, where a Claude tool was accessing profiles, posts, and hashtags at roughly four times the normal rate in intense bursts on October 17, which prompted the takedown.

“These abrupt, high-volume, sequential requests in a short period resembled automated bot traffic rather than an ordinary human browsing our systems,” he said.

An automated re-review about an hour later found the removal was a mistake and restored the account.

Stone added, “We want to reiterate our sincere apology for the error.”

Stone’s statement on Sunday didn’t specify which Claude tool was involved, who was operating it or what activity it had been carrying out in connection with the account.

Anthropic has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident.