Outrage erupted Saturday after Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta appeared to take down a social media account run by No Kings organizers — just as more than 3,000 No Kings marches got underway nationwide.
“Meta pulled down the main No Kings Instagram accounts. We demand answers for why this happened during our National Day of Action,” wrote Norm Eisen, attorney and former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic under the Obama administration. “Meanwhile, millions are mobilizing — they cannot silence us.”
Millions of Americans joined thousands of No Kings marches across the nation Saturday ahead of the midterms, with the demonstrations focusing more on “early voting and turnout rather than protesting like the previous three No Kings events,” USA Today reported.
But at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET, the main Instagram account for the No Kings coalition was taken down without warning or explanation, according to political scientist and Democratic strategist Rachel Bitecofer.
“The admins have lost access to the account. We are unable to login. This happened at the peak of our national day of action,” Bitecofer wrote.
According to Eisen, the No Kings Instagram account has since been restored, but its administrators remain “locked out and cannot post.”
“Meta must restore full access immediately,” Eisen demanded.
Zuckerberg has worked to win President Donald Trump’s favor since the 2024 election. He attended Trump’s inauguration, made multiple trips to Mar-a-Lago, scrapped Meta’s third-party fact-checking program and agreed to pay $25 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over his post-Jan. 6 suspension, ABC News reported.
“Why did [Meta] suspend the official No Kings account on today’s day of mass action?” asked Democratic strategist Grant Stern. “The account is back but still locked. This is wrong.”