Former President Donald Trump is not the only member of his family targeted by Big Tech.
Meta-owned Instagram flagged Donald Trump Jr.’s account for supposedly spreading “false information.”
MRC Free Speech America confirmed that Instagram made it more difficult for users to follow or mention Trump Jr.’s account. “Are you sure you want to follow donaldjtrumpjr?” an Instagram pop-up asked an MRC employee attempting to follow the account. A subsequent attempt to mention the account in an Instagram post triggered a pop-up asking, “Do you want to @mention this account?” Despite these hurdles, users can still follow or mention the account.
“This account has repeatedly posted false information that was reviewed by independent fact checkers or went against our Community Guidelines,” the Instagram pop-up claims. The social media platform did not explain what “false information” Trump Jr. posted or how he violated Community Guidelines.
MxM News co-founder Taylor Budowich’s account tweeted out the information as well, and MxM News’s account retweeted it. Trump Jr. helped create and launch MxM.
It is now harder for Instagram users to mention or follow Trump Jr.’s account, as a result of the platform’s restrictions on the former president’s son.
Mentions help larger accounts communicate with their following and ease the ability of users to find related posts from smaller accounts.
Trump Jr. has slammed Big Tech censorship before, telling Media Research Center in July 2021 that he was censored multiple times, including by Instagram. He also joined YouTube alternative Rumble, which does not censor content.
MRC Free Speech America reached out to Instagram for comment but did not receive a response as of the publication of this article.
This is not the first time Instagram has censored an account this way.
The platform previously censored Project Veritas’s account, flagging it for “false information.” Instagram restricted users from mentioning or tagging the Project Veritas account in October, claiming the account had violated “our Community Guidelines on false content about COVID-19 or vaccines.” Instagram also restricted mentions and tags of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe’s account.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 650-308-7300 or 650-543-4800, and contact Instagram at 650-543-4800 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
