A wave of restrictions and suspensions of Instagram accounts linked to Albania’s ongoing civic protests has raised concerns over freedom of expression, access to information and the vulnerability of public-interest content to manipulation of social-media moderation systems.

On September 3, BIRN/Reporter.al reported that dozens of Instagram accounts associated with people involved in, supporting or documenting the protests had been disabled during a concentrated period of roughly 24 hours. The affected accounts included civic and protest-related profiles as well as the verified account of opposition MP Agron Shehaj. Several users were presented with notices that their accounts had been disabled; in some cases, the reporting indicates that an accessible appeal route was not available. Meta had not responded to BIRN’s questions by the time the article was published.

Citizens.al separately documented users who said they lost access or experienced restrictions during the night of September 2–3, several at approximately the same time. Its reporting also indicates that problems had begun earlier: during August, users publishing material from the protests reported copyright complaints against photographs and videos, including material they said they had produced themselves. Some removed material was subsequently restored after appeals.

The exact number of affected accounts has not been independently established. Claims that around 100 or more than 200 profiles were affected have been made by protesters and political representatives.

The most consistent pattern documented so far concerns copyright reporting. BIRN/Reporter.al reported that some protest-related accounts had seen posts disappear after copyright complaints, including videos that administrators said had been filmed by them during the demonstrations. Technology experts interviewed by BIRN noted that copyright complaints may trigger faster platform responses than some other types of reports and can therefore be vulnerable to coordinated abuse.

Repro Uncensored, which has been documenting and assisting several affected users, has also reported repeated copyright notices, successive content removals and cases in which new profiles were subsequently targeted. It has described one case in which an alleged complainant reportedly told an activist that they had been paid in cryptocurrency to target several accounts. This claim has not established who may have commissioned or financed the activity.

Affected activists and opposition representatives have publicly alleged government involvement. At present, however, there is no publicly verified evidence showing that the Albanian government, the governing Socialist Party or another identifiable political actor ordered, financed or coordinated the reports. The available evidence supports scrutiny of a possible coordinated abuse of platform mechanisms; it does not yet establish the actor behind it.

This case raises the question whether platform enforcement systems are being deliberately exploited to suppress or substantially reduce the visibility of voices associated with an ongoing civic mobilization.

The affected accounts identified in public reporting are predominantly those of activists, civic initiatives and political actors rather than established news organizations. Nevertheless, many have been used to document events on the ground, publish videos and first-hand material and circulate information about protests of clear public interest.

The case also places responsibility on Meta. Irrespective of who initiated the complaints, questions remain about how repeated copyright claims were assessed; whether enforcement was automated; whether coordinated misuse was detected; whether users received adequate notice and an effective appeal route; and whether wrongly removed content and accounts are being restored.

A credible response would require transparent human review of the affected accounts, prompt restoration where violations cannot be substantiated, preservation of relevant complaint and enforcement data, investigation of possible coordinated misuse of reporting mechanisms, and transparency about any communications received from public authorities or political actors concerning the affected accounts. As of BIRN’s publication on September 3, Meta had not publicly explained the Albanian cases.

The situation escalated further on September 5 when the official Instagram account of Euronews Albania, one of the country’s national news broadcasters, became inaccessible without a publicly stated reason. The development came after Meta acknowledged that it had incorrectly suspended some of the Albanian accounts affected in the earlier wave and said it was reviewing its enforcement actions. Meta has not yet explained what caused the broader pattern of suspensions, whether its reporting mechanisms were subject to coordinated abuse, or the reason for the action affecting Euronews Albania.