Instagram Bans Pro-Life Group at Auburn

Depending on which way you lean, the arrival of Elon Musk and his sink at Twitter last week represented either a new dawn for free speech or the death of democracy. In fact, a host of celebrities that you have probably forgotten or never heard of in the first place announced that they were flipping the bird at the Bird and stomping off toward the exit. And I am sure that a large number of purple-haired blue checks are also screaming that their exodus is nigh. They will have to find other venues for their five-plus followers to read their profanity-laced, grammatically-challenged missives.

For those concerned that Musk will forsake the much-beloved and frequently abused Twitter ban, they can take heart in the fact that other platforms will continue to uphold the banner of censorship. They still have Facebook for example, if they really want to go retro. And Instagram (which is a part of Facebook’s parent company Meta) is also making sure it keeps the playing field unlevel.

Back in October, Young America’s Foundation reported that Students for Life at Auburn University put a post on Instagram that simply read: March for Life Signups Are Live/esfl_auburn. And that was it. Six words and a handle.

Those six words were more than Instagram could stand, and on October 13, the group got a notice from the platform stating that its account had been suspended and it had 30 days to appeal. The reason? “Your account or activity on it doesn’t follow our Community Guidelines on business integrity.” Board member Samuel Hass told YAF that the post was permanently banned for promoting the March for Life. The group has filed an appeal, and Instagram did not respond.

The College Fix checked back with Students for Life at Auburn at the end of last month, and as of October 31, the ban was still in place. The site also said that President Gwen Charles stated that the group’s social media director filed an appeal on the date of the ban and asked why it was put in place. The answer was, to put it mildly, odd. Instagram claimed that the group was “pretending to be someone else.” Instagram/Meta has not responded to inquiries regarding the decision.

This, of course, is just one more incident of Big Tech censorship of anything that is even vaguely conservative, especially when it comes to pro-life issues. And the fact that Instagram provided such a lame excuse shows that it does not even care enough to come up with a valid reason. And to be honest, we all know the reason. But, had Students for Life at Auburn University added just one word, the post would never have been banned and maybe would have even been promoted. To make Instagram happy, the group would have just had to change the post to read: “March for Life Protest Signups Are Live.” That would have gone viral. Meta would have made sure of it.