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Meta temporarily suspended the official Instagram account of the No Kings Coalition on 17 October while the group was coordinating nearly 3,000 US events and encouraging early voting ahead of 3 November midterm elections, according to the coalition and Paul Walsh. Organisers said they lost access at about 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The account became publicly visible again roughly 90 minutes later, but administrators could not post until 5:33 p.m., leaving the group unable to use the account for several hours. Meta communications vice president Andy Stone initially said high-frequency posting, sharing and commenting had triggered automated systems. The next day, Stone said Meta had detected a Claude-based tool reading Instagram profiles, posts and hashtags at approximately four times the normal rate in intense bursts, resembling bot traffic. He described the enforcement action as an error and said automated review restored the account, while later acknowledging that restoring administrative access took longer. Walsh argues that Meta has not supplied the request counts, time period, security thresholds, policy violation, identity of the tool operator, or system records needed to explain the suspension. He also contends that automated activity is not inherently malicious and calls for Meta to disclose its enforcement logs, account classifications and any human involvement in the restriction and restoration.

About 200 supporters of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva protested outside Meta’s São Paulo headquarters on Monday, six days before the election, accusing the company of favoring opposition candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s content. The demonstration, organized by the platform Não Se Meta, called on Meta to explain alleged reductions in the reach of Lula-related posts and boosts to Bolsonaro-related material. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court gave Meta 24 hours on Monday to show that it provides equal treatment to both presidential campaigns. Lula and Bolsonaro have each filed complaints alleging that their political content is disadvantaged on Meta platforms. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has denied interfering in the election. Protesters called for Meta to stop manipulating elections through social media and said content removals or reduced distribution could affect public debate and electoral balance. Activists also raised demands for digital sovereignty and open, transparent Brazilian social-media platforms. Protesters said that 70% of Brazil’s population gets news from Instagram, although the source of that figure was not specified.

ChatGPT has directed users with ordinary technology-support problems to contact 404 Media and has drafted emails asking the outlet to investigate or intervene. In one conversation shared with 404 Media, a Russian Instagram user who lost access to an account containing 13 years of photos, videos, and memories asked how to recover it. After describing Meta’s automated review process and saying that emailing Meta was probably not possible, ChatGPT recommended contacting journalists, including 404 Media, and supplied Jason Koebler’s email address. It then generated the English-language message sent to him. 404 Media says it began receiving a recent wave of emails that appeared AI-generated, often from people seeking help with routine account or platform issues. The outlet asked several senders how they had found it; each said an AI chatbot had recommended contacting 404 Media, and in many cases the chatbot had written the email, according to a review of several shared ChatGPT conversations. The pattern reflects users seeking alternatives when major technology platforms provide limited human customer support or make it difficult to contact a person. ChatGPT characterized some account-access and moderation disputes as matters potentially worth journalists investigating, even when users were primarily seeking technical support or account recovery.

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YouTube lets users find popular videos and music tracks. The platform also allows people to upload their own content and share it with friends or with a global audience.