No Kings account suspended by Meta during protests — not a coincidence?

One group organized nearly 3,000 events over the weekend with tens of thousands of attendees and one big goal: getting voters ready for next month’s midterms.

“No Kings” mobilized across the country, helping people check their voter registration, understand their voting rights and make a plan to cast their ballots. But in the middle of that nationwide push, the movement says its main Instagram account was suspended at a critical moment.

According to Newsweek, the account was down for roughly 90 minutes , and organizers say they remained locked out of the account’s administrative tools for hours afterward, so they couldn’t post, completely limiting their ability to communicate with supporters.

Meta apologized, saying the suspension happened by mistake after an automated system flagged the account’s high volume of activity.

But organizer Ezra Levin isn’t convinced this is simply a story about a computer making a mistake.

“This is strikingly reminiscent of what we saw in Brazil.” he said. “Just this week, a court ruled against Meta for favoring the authoritarians in that country and we might be seeing something similar from Meta in our country right now.”

So, for context, Brazil is heading into an Oct. 25 presidential runoff between left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula’s campaign accused Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, of unfairly restricting its political content while giving Bolsonaro’s campaign an advantage. One concern involved Meta’s AI tools.

A Brazilian nonprofit named CTRL + Z reported over 1,000 cases of reduced visibility, account bans, or electoral censorship disproportionately affecting pro-Lula content. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court ordered Meta to ensure equal treatment of the candidates across its platforms. The court upheld that order unanimously, with a hefty fine for violations.

In the Brazil incident, Meta again denied intentional political bias and pointed to technical issues and its election-related safeguards. That’s a very convenient response for a private company that controls platforms that millions of people rely on for political information.

The whole point of the No Kings movement is showing that President Trump’s second administration has concentrated too much power in the presidency, undermining democratic norms. Its organizers are now trying to turn that opposition into votes.

“No Kings” may sound like a dramatic title, but Trump is has behaved in a way that exhibits unchecked executive overreach. A new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll found that 66 percent of Americans say Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself . Whether it’s ignoring the emoluments clause, dissolving cryptocurrency enforcement teams while accumulating millions with his cryptocurrency, or taking lavish gifts from foreign countries, it’s all problematic.

So, whether we’re talking about Brazil or the United States, the issue is bigger than one Instagram account or one algorithm. It’s about transparency, accountability and whether the digital platforms shaping political conversations are applying their rules fairly.

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.