The Federal Public Ministry in Acre (MPF-AC) has given Meta five days to explain the mass takedown of Instagram profiles linked to the LGBTQIA+ community, which began in mid-May and has affected more than a hundred accounts. The move marks a new escalation in the ongoing controversy surrounding Meta’s content moderation policies, first announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in January 2025.
The inquiry was formalized on Tuesday (June 2) by federal prosecutor Lucas Costa Almeida Dias, who is leading a civil investigation opened in 2025 to assess the impact of Meta’s moderation changes on LGBTQIA+ populations in Brazil.
In the official notice sent to Meta, the prosecutor demanded that the company clarify the reasons behind “the massive suspension of over one hundred LGBTI+-themed profiles” and specify “which community guideline each of the listed pages allegedly violated to warrant summary removal.” The MPF also questioned whether the bans resulted from “automated (algorithmic) detection or coordinated mass reporting”.
Meta declined to comment on the case when approached by Folha de S.Paulo.
Pattern of Removals Around Key LGBTQIA+ Dates
The MPF’s action follows a formal complaint filed hours earlier by the organization Sleeping Giants Brasil, which requested that the ongoing investigation be expanded to include the recent wave of removals. According to Sleeping Giants, the first wave of blockings began over the weekend of May 16–17, coinciding with the International Day Against Homophobia, and new suspensions have resurfaced in the days leading up to São Paulo’s LGBTQIAPN+ Pride Parade, scheduled for Sunday, June 7.
“After Folha‘s report on the initial wave of suspensions, more than a hundred administrators of LGBTQIA+-related accounts reached out to us to report their profiles had been taken down,” said Humberto Ribeiro, co-founder and legal director of Sleeping Giants Brasil. “We received far more than a hundred complaints. I don’t believe this is a deliberate Meta decision to suspend profiles on the eve of Pride, but the mass removals reveal a pattern of discriminatory behavior toward this community.”
Among the first reported cases were the accounts Pheeno, Universo LGBTI, Ezatamentchy, GayBlogBr, and Comunidades LGBTQIA, which collectively amassed over 1.7 million followers. According to the complaint, these profiles were removed “without any prior communication or justification regarding a violation of the platform’s terms of use.”
Affected Creators: “We Formed a Collective for Strength”
Estevão Delgado, creator of the 12-year-old account Ezatamentchy, discovered his profile had been disabled while traveling abroad. “My account had been verified for a long time. A week went by, then two — I contacted everyone I could. Not only did nothing happen, but other pages started getting taken down too,” Delgado told investigators. He helped organize a collective of affected creators. “The closer we get to the elections, the worse the attacks tend to become. Now we’re trying to shield our pages.”
Performer and trans activist Natasha Princess, whose profile of over 100,000 followers was suspended in mid-April, described a Kafkaesque appeals process. “I was told I could appeal and get a response in two days. Instead, I received a message saying the account was disabled, with no explanation. I sent over 30 emails, filed complaints on Reclame Aqui [a Brazilian consumer complaints site]. Someone from Meta called and said there was nothing they could do unless I hired a lawyer — which was too expensive. I lost contracts and had to refund sponsorship money.”
Princess noted that many drag performers, especially those who discuss politics, have been targeted. “Now I’ve deleted almost everything from my profile. I’m afraid to post. If this were a real guideline violation, why was my account eventually restored?”
Algorithmic Moderation Under Fire
The 2025 policy shift championed by Zuckerberg — which reduced the role of human moderators, whom he described as “too politically biased,” in favor of algorithmic and AI-driven moderation — is at the heart of the investigation. Sleeping Giants alleges that the new approach has disproportionately harmed LGBTQIA+ content while simultaneously allowing posts that associate sexual orientation and gender identity with mental disorders to remain online in certain contexts.
Such changes are already under scrutiny in the MPF’s civil inquiry because they may constitute hate speech, according to the complaint.
New Internet Regulation Looms
The controversy unfolds as Brazil’s government published Decree No. 12.975 on May 21, updating regulations under the Marco Civil da Internet (Brazil’s Internet Civil Rights Framework). The decree introduces due-process safeguards requiring platforms to inform users of the specific reasons for content removal. However, the new rules have not yet taken effect, leaving affected creators without formal recourse.
Meta has yet to respond to the MPF’s latest request for clarification. The five-day deadline is expected to expire on June 7.
Source: ICL, Folha de São Paulo
