California Attorney General on Oct. 26 joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general asking Meta to further explain its Oct. 17 suspension of the No Kings Coalition’s Instagram account and to detail how it will keep legitimate election activity on its platforms from being disrupted.
Meta has admitted the suspension was an error, according to Bonta’s office. The company attributed the shutdown to a sharp increase in activity that looked like automated bot traffic rather than human exchanges, which the attorney general’s office said suggests Meta is unable to tell legitimate political activity from harmful bot activity.
The letter asks Meta when it became aware of the suspension, what it did to fix the error and how it will distinguish legitimate political activity from bot traffic going forward. It also asks how Meta will protect political activity before, during and after the Nov. 3 election.
“Millions of Californians rely on social media to organize, read news, and obtain information about upcoming elections,” Bonta said. He said the suspension “occurred at the height of the coalition’s organized and widely promoted efforts to support early voting.”
The attorneys general asked Meta to respond no later than Thursday, Oct. 29. Bonta signed alongside the attorneys general of Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
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