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Instagram blocked searches for #democrats and other political hashtags

Instagram blocked searches related to a number of political hashtags, including #democrats, #democrat, #jan6th, #republicans and a number of other terms Tuesday.

The timing, just days after Mark Zuckerberg took a front-row seat at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, understandably prompted speculation that the “issue” was politically motivated. Zuckerberg recently moved to end Meta’s fact-checking programs, roll back content moderation standards that prohibited dehumanizing language and slurs targeting immigrants and LGBTQ people. The company said earlier this year that was an error, noting that "we do not consider LGBTQ+ terms to be sensitive under our policies.” In 2020, Instagram briefly prevented users from sharing posts with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

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