Facebook came under public fire, many Black users left the platform, and the company was hauled before Congress in 2021 for its content moderation practices, which the company’s own researchers found allowed hate speech to proliferate, while disproportionately censoring Black users and people from marginalized groups. Their findings were consistent with criticisms civil rights groups had directed at Facebook for years, including the ACLU of Northern California, who in 2020 urged Facebook to address content moderation on its platform following the erroneous takedowns of content shared by Black activists and LGBTQ artists. Facebook has promised to examine and improve how its platform treats people differently based on race and has created a Civil Rights Team to audit the company’s progress.

A coalition of 40 tech and racial justice civil rights groups slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an open letter for “silencing individuals at the request of the police” after two separate incidents in which the social media company suspended livestreams of police shootings by African-American users. The controversy arose amid reports that Zuckerberg reprimanded Facebook employees for defacing “Black Lives Matters” messages written on the walls of company headquarters. Groups called on Facebook to recognize its importance as a tool for “documenting police misconduct” and institute transparent policies regarding content censorship and collaboration with law enforcement. 

Instagram found itself at the center of an international controversy after it removed a photo posted by the Sikh artist and poet Rapi Kaur. Even though the photo was of a fully dressed woman alone in bed with a period stain on her clothing, Instagram deleted the photo twice for allegedly violating its prohibitions against sexual acts, violence, and nudity. After facing widespread criticism for its decision, Instagram apologized for “wrongly remov[ing]” the content as a violation of its Community Guidelines and reposted the photo.