Instagram accused of flagging Carano content

Gina Carano at the premiere for The Mandalorian in 2019. | Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

An Instagram user reported that posts from a Gina Carano fan page are being tagged with health advisories. …


Gina Carano. Premiere And Q & A For “The Mandalorian”
Gina Carano at the premiere for The Mandalorian in 2019. | Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

An Instagram user reported that posts from a Gina Carano fan page are being tagged with health advisories.

Recently many outlets claimed that Gina Carano had been ‘shadow banned’ on Twitter. While Twitter stated that the platform doesn’t engage in that tactic, Bloody Elbow did discover that Carano’s account was more difficult to access.

Now social media users are alleging that Instagram is interfering with Carano content. ScreenGeek recently presented a series of tweets from a user who said that, when they shared content on their Instagram page from the Instagram account @GinaCaranoNet (a Gina Carano fan page) those posts came with a COVID-19 warning.

Instagram adds these warnings whenever any keywords relating to COVID-19 are used in posts. However, it is being claimed that these warnings are being attached to posts about Gina Carano that do not mention the virus.

According to screenshots shared by the user, after they shared the GinaCaranoNet content, they received an alert that read: “Since your post includes information about COVID-19, we’ve added a link to a health source.”

That user further alleges that when the shared post appeared on her account it came with an overlay that read: “For info and resources about COVID-19, visit the COVID-19 Information Center.”

That user claimed they re-posted a screenshot of that post, showing the overlay warning, and that this post was given the same overlay regarding COVID-19.

After they reported on this story Bounding Into Comics tested the claims of the social media user. They too received COVID-19 warnings when sharing content from that specific Carano fan account.

When Bloody Elbow attempted to test this, we discovered that the account had removed all of its content except for one story promoting a giveaway. Sharing that content did not prompt a COVID-19 warning. Bloody Elbow also discovered that the Instagram stories on Gina Carano’s official account did not have any COVID-19 warnings.

Carano made news this year for being booted from the hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian over her social media activity. That activity included criticizing mask mandates designed to stop the spread of COVID-19, a virus that has killed over 550,000 Americans. Her firing from the Star Wars spin-off came quickly after she released a post that compared being criticized for political beliefs in present-day USA to the Holocaust.

Since then she has reportedly signed a deal to make content with Ben Shapiro. This apparently includes her own Star Wars-style project.