Some Instagram users can’t post about Black Lives Matter – here’s why

Some Instagram users who are trying to post using the “Black Lives Matter” hashtag are getting an “action blocked” message at the moment.

The message tells users “we restrict certain content and actions to protect our community” and has left people obviously confused about why they can’t post messages about the movement, protests or share information.

One person said: “Ever since I’ve been sharing anything BLM on Instagram, I keep getting a message that my actions are being blocked. Interesting, no?” Others added that they have been blocked from posting for a number of days since trying to share the hashtag on their stories and posts. 

But Instagram has said it is nothing but a tech problem, and it is working to try and resolve the issue. Instagram said so many people are using the Black Lives Matter hashtag that it has triggered its anti-spam technology which automatically blocks the posts. There have been an unprecedented number of people posting about the movement in the past few days.

Instagram released a statement which read: “We’re aware that some people are incorrectly running into ‘action blocked’ messages when using the hashtag #blacklivesmatter, or resharing related posts. We have technology that detects rapidly increasing activity on Instagram to help combat spam.

“Given the increase in content shared to #blacklivesmatter, this technology is incorrectly coming into effect. We are resolving this issue as quickly as we can, and investigating a separate issue uploading Stories. We want to be clear that using #blacklivesmatter is supported and celebrated on Instagram, and we are moving quickly to ensure voices using this hashtag are heard.”

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