Skinner said volunteers he works with across the US first reported problems with posting links on Meta’s platforms on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, WIRED verified that posting links to the site was blocked on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. WIRED also confirmed that links can still be sent on WhatsApp, another Meta-owned product.
While all the social media platforms where the link is blocked are owned by Meta, the reasons users are given for their inability to link to the ICE List website vary.
When WIRED attempted to post a link on Facebook, we received a message that read: “Posts that look like spam according to our Community Guidelines are blocked on Facebook and can’t be edited.” Hours later, however, that message was updated to read: “Your content couldn’t be shared, because this link goes against our Community Standards.” The message linked to Meta’s Community Standards homepage rather than a specific part of those rules.
Meanwhile on Threads, the link instantly disappeared when pasted into a new post, with a notice simply saying: “Link not allowed.”
On Instagram, a notice appearing after an attempt to post a Story read: “We restrict certain activity to protect our community. Let us know if you think we made a mistake.”
When asked about the block, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone directed WIRED to the company’s policy about sharing personally identifiable information. When WIRED pointed out that the information on the ICE List did not appear to contain any of the information listed on Meta’s policy, he said it was in relation to the policy prohibiting “content asking for personally identifiable information of others.”
In response, Skinner pointed out that ICE List has been asking for tips about the identities of ICE agents for six months.
This story originally appeared on wired.com.
