Instagram users are allegedly being prevented from liking or following President Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., according to multiple reports received by Trump Jr., who exclusively shared those reports with Breitbart News.
The Instagram users have reported multiple issues on the platform. These include having their accounts automatically unfollow President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. without their knowledge or consent, and being prevented from liking posts from President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and other conservative accounts.
Trump supporters on Instagram began contacting Don Jr. after the president’s son was temporarily blocked from posting about the Jussie Smollett hoax, an incident Instagram claimed was an error.
After this incident, Don Jr. posted a screenshot of a private message he received from a concerned Instagram user who said their account had automatically unfollowed the president’s son without their knowledge or consent.
Don Jr. subsequently received a barrage of private messages informing him of similar issues. Screenshots of these messages, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, can be seen below.
In an exclusive comment to Breitbart News, Donald Trump Jr. said:
We’ve known for some time that major social media companies have been engaged in an effort to suppress conservative views and free speech, but these latest revelations about Instagram’s behavior demonstrate an even more sinister sustained, coordinated, and targeted campaign at anyone and everyone who supports the president and conservative views. I fear we are just beginning to pull the mask back on just how insane these hidden but all-powerful censors really are, and it is frightening to know how much control they have over what people see online.
One of the most common issues reported by Instagram users is that they have been prevented from liking posts after interacting with posts from Don Jr, President Trump, or other conservative accounts.
Users sent their stories to Don Jr., along with screenshots of the messages they received from Instagram informing them of temporary liking blocks.
One user said she was blocked from liking content on Instagram after she posted about the Trump administration’s recent decision to fight the criminality of homosexuality around the world. Instagram recently faced controversy over LGBT rights abroad after an Indonesian LGBT comic strip disappeared from the platform following complaints from the Muslim Indonesian government.
Don Jr. drew attention to the liking-blocks in a post on Instagram today.
Another common issue being reported by Instagram users is that without their knowledge or consent, their accounts have automatically unfollowed Donald Trump Jr., President Trump, and other conservative accounts.
In a comment to Breitbart News, an Instagram spokeswoman said liking the President and Don Jr.’s posts could constitute “spammy behavior.”
“The ‘action blocked’ message is shown to people when we detect they may be taking part in spammy behavior, for example, liking multiple posts, following multiple accounts or similar. This is a measure we have in place to prevent spam on Instagram and isn’t specific to any one account.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.