Meta claims it is urgently addressing an Instagram issue that hides search results for the terms “Democrat” or “Democrats.” This problem has sparked accusations of political bias on social media.
Accusations and Technical Problems
Some social media users allege political bias, noting the issue arose after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The event was attended by Meta’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg. Meta denies these claims, stating the issue is a technical glitch affecting hashtags across the political spectrum, including Republican-related ones.
Social media expert Matt Navarra called the situation “embarrassing” for Instagram. “In a hyper-partisan environment, even unintentional errors like this can escalate into accusations of partisanship,” he said. “If these issues are not resolved quickly, they risk fuelling conspiracy theories and damaging Meta’s reputation.”
Currently, searching Instagram for “#Democrat” or “#Democrats” results in no visible posts. Users instead see a message stating, “Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content.” By contrast, “#Republican” reveals 3.3 million posts, although “Republicans” shows limited results.
Meta stated, “We’re aware of an error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum and we are working quickly to resolve it.”
Zuckerberg and Political Connections
Mark Zuckerberg’s involvement with Republican figures has drawn attention. In January, Meta announced significant changes to its content moderation policies. Zuckerberg cited Trump’s re-election as a “cultural tipping point” influencing these changes.
Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican, replaced Sir Nick Clegg as Meta’s global affairs chief. Zuckerberg also met Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, and Meta made a donation to a Trump-related fund.
Trump and his allies have previously criticized Meta for alleged censorship of right-wing voices. Despite this, Trump praised Meta’s recent policy changes, saying the company had “come a long way.”