Almost exactly one year ago on October 30, 2020, we could quantitatively confirm that Instagram liking activity was shut down when the Recent tab on all hashtag pages were removed. The shutdown occurred as a result of the 2020 US presidential election taking place and continued after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election until the Electoral College voted in mid-December.
This was unexpected and unprecedented. We published many articles and press releases in the past when liking activity on social media is disrupted. When this happened, many social media users in the United States, including us, ended up getting a simulation of what the Chinese internet is like. Instagram is a private company and they have the right to control what people can say or do on the platform. You could basically understand how Chinese censorship tactics can be applied on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter which are unavailable in mainland China.
America is a country home to more than 330 million people. Almost all American users of Instagram were hit by this. This came in because of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims of election fraud before and after the election. This was especially true before he had even lost when votes were being counted and a delay in the winner being announced due to the record number of mail-in ballots cast as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some users were infuriated over the removal of the tab. This prevented users from liking massive numbers of posts in an attempt to gain followers and expand their presence – a practice that has since become Drillimation’s trademark on social media. In this case, Trump lost his chance of getting a second term in office as a direct result of his lies and his poor response to the pandemic. When this happened to Drillimation, 20 followers were lost and was short of smashing 900 followers. As of now, Drillimation has over 1,700 followers.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of it, we are hoping this doesn’t happen again. We are hoping we can yield positive social media results in November 2021.
Press releases related to the disruption:
- Drillimation to Temporarily Halt Instagram Liking Activity Until November 4
- Drillimation to Delay Resuming of Instagram Liking Activity to November 5
- Drillimation Liking Activity on Instagram Delayed Indefinitely Until Further Notice
- Drillimation Instagram Liking Activity Has Temporarily Returned
- Drillimation Instagram Liking Activity Back to Normal Now
Drillimation Systems 