Meta’s Copyright System Used to Target Albanian Protest Accounts, European Lawmakers Demand Investigation

European lawmakers are calling for an investigation into Meta after hundreds of Instagram accounts documenting anti-government protests in Albania were suspended in what researchers believe was a coordinated brigading campaign using copyright complaints.

The suspensions, which appear to have begun in late August 2026, targeted accounts connected to Albania’s “Flamingo Revolution” — daily protests that have taken place in the capital Tirana for over three months. The demonstrations were initially sparked by the development of a luxury resort linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, with protesters demanding changes to laws permitting development on protected land and the resignation of the country’s prime minister.

More than 30 Members of the European Parliament signed a letter asking the European Commission to investigate whether Meta’s actions complied with the EU’s Digital Services Act. MEP Alexandra Geese called the situation “tantamount to censorship,” adding that “European rules” exist precisely to address such concerns.

Repro Uncensored, a nonprofit that tracks digital censorship, says it has verified around 100 cases of account restrictions tied to the protests and estimates the true number could be several hundred. Founder Martha Dimitratou told WIRED the group confirmed removal of posts and videos, account restrictions, and loss of collaboration features in at least 70 cases. In at least one instance, a complaint was traced to someone who claimed they had been paid to file it.

Dimitratou described a recurring pattern: multiple copyright complaints filed against a single account in rapid succession — often five to ten in a short period — followed by escalating enforcement and, in some cases, full account disablement. “Taken together, the alleged paid reporting, the repeated sequence of copyright complaints followed by account enforcement, the concentration of targets around the same movement, and the repeated targeting of replacement accounts strongly indicate coordinated activity,” she said.

British-Albanian protester Arjan Koçi, whose aerial drone footage of the Tirana demonstrations drew millions of views, said he began receiving copyright infringement emails from Meta on August 20. He said approximately 20 accounts were closed simultaneously around 1 a.m. on the same night. Dimitratou noted that the targeted accounts collectively reach millions of people, suggesting the suspensions may have significantly limited public access to protest coverage and civic information.