Instagram deletes conservative organization after Hunter Biden post

[Editor's note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]

By Rob Bluey
The Daily Signal

Instagram deleted the America First Policy Institute’s account Wednesday morning without any explanation.

Brooke Rollins, founder and CEO of the organization, announced on X that the account, a1policy, was banned at 8:49 a.m. The organization appealed at 9:10 a.m. only to receive another message from Instagram at 9:16 a.m. disabling the account. After publication of this story, amid an outcry from conservatives, Instagram restored the account Wednesday afternoon.

“After posting graphics highlighting the radical Left’s duplicity and egregious double standards relating to Hunter Biden’s failure to honor a congressional subpoena, this morning the America First Policy Institute’s Instagram account was suspended and deleted by the leader in Big Tech censorship, Meta,” Rollins said in a statement.

She added, “Once again, when the Left is confronted with the facts, they do everything in their power to silence and censor those with whom they disagree, including removing their opponents from the ballot.”

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? In less than an hour this morning, Meta suspended and then deleted @A1Policy’s Instagram account after posting facts about how The Biden Administration has dismantled the rule of law in our Nation. See original post below ?? pic.twitter.com/CCMj4tz9uF

— Chad Wolf (@ChadFWolf) January 10, 2024

The Daily Signal asked Instagram to explain its decision, but did not receive a response. A spokesman for AFPI said the organization would continue to press for answers.

AFPI’s account had 39,000 followers on Instagram. After it was deleted, the organization created a new account, a1policy2.0.

In 2021, AFPI supported former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Big Tech CEOs from Facebook, Google, and Twitter (before it was sold to Elon Musk). Rollins promised to take immediate legal action against Meta, the parent company of Instagram.

Instagram’s decision prompted conservatives to express outrage at Big Tech censorship, a problem the Media Research Center has documented extensively at CensorTrack. Its database includes more than 6,000 documented cases of censorship.

The Heritage Foundation’s Kara Frederick, director of the Tech Policy Center, said Big Tech companies should suffer consequences if they censor political content or other constitutionally protected opinions. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.)

If Instagram can’t handle people who disagree with Instagram, perhaps Instagram shouldn’t hold itself out as a neutral forum.

Content moderation always seems to cut against conservatives.

Not liberals.

That is the behavior of a monopolist.

That will not remain unnoticed. https://t.co/sWJs7UHJDa

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 10, 2024

2024 Government-Tech censorship ahead of the election. It’s begun. America-First Policy Institute just got shut down by Instagram. https://t.co/nul3miHbd7

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 10, 2024

I swear the same nightmare keeps happening over and over.

Big Tech (every election year) will ban anyone they politically disagree with, BUT will let actual TERRORIST organizations remain active on their platform.

It’s past time to crack down on this. We need answers from Meta… https://t.co/l0iEIN0pFZ

— Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) January 10, 2024

Big Tech is a cancer and it needs to be excised and destroyed. https://t.co/gqpKvvB8iv

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 10, 2024

Censorship of American speech and debate is an epidemic. Evokes Soviet era controls. Utterly terrifying and awful. https://t.co/LzGwJj1Y1F

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 10, 2024

[Editor's note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]

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