The Westwood Enabler was nearing its 10,000 follower mark on Instagram when the app banned its account Wednesday evening.

For 12 years, the Westwood Enabler – an independent student-run satirical newspaper – has covered campus, national and international news in a comedic light, said Maggie Kwan, a head editor for the publication. Kwan, a second-year statistics and data science student, added that Instagram was one of the Westwood Enabler’s main platforms to post articles and video content.

The account’s posts have reached up to 40,000 likes, they added.

[Related: The Westwood Enabler creates comedic concoction of current events, satire]

Instagram banned the Westwood Enabler’s account without warning or clear reasoning, said Georgia McNeill, the publication’s editor in chief. An AI bot – which she said doesn’t understand satire – flagged the Westwood Enabler’s account for activity related to buying, selling or exchanging items restricted by the government.

Meta did not respond in time to a request for comment on the banning of the Westwood Enabler’s Instagram account.

“Satire is one of the most important aspects of public discourse and of free speech,” McNeill said. “To have it just banned without warning, it shows that there’s only really so much you can talk about.”

The Westwood Enabler posted articles every weekday with the goal of critiquing people in power and making news digestible, McNeill said. But, above all, members create content with the hopes of making people laugh, she added.

“All we really wanted was to make people laugh,” said McNeill, a fourth-year history student. “Despite all the political stuff, our number one thing for any article was, ‘Is it funny or not?’”

McNeill said members believe Instagram banned the account because of a recent post that encouraged people do ketamine.

Kwan said Instagram’s appeal process has not been effective. The Westwood Enabler is making their case for reinstatement to an employee at Meta, McNeill added.

McNeill said she believes the account’s removal exemplifies that AI bots should not be the sole decision makers in whether an account should stay up or not. While the Westwood Enabler has a website to post content, she added, it is currently impacted by a virus.

“It’s pretty clear to me that it hasn’t been people reviewing this because obviously satire is protected under the First Amendment,” said Jessica Rose, an assistant editor at the Westwood Enabler.

Members spend hours creating graphics and prints, writing articles and advertising the Westwood Enabler’s content, said Rose, a third-year English student. She added that she believes satire is a tool that encourages people to speak out about important issues in an engaging way.

Kwan said members of the Westwood Enabler have also been left without a platform to advertise their spring print edition release. The publication started producing quarterly print editions in spring 2025 – which included exclusive articles, crossword puzzles and advertisements, Rose added.

“We were branching out to reels, and we have all these plans, and we have scripts half made,” McNeill said. “We have all this stuff that just got stopped, just out of nowhere, without any warning.”

McNeill said the Instagram ban has also impacted her job applications, as she no longer has the Westwood Enabler’s account to put on her resume.

However, Enabler alumni and other satirical newspapers – such as UC Berkeley’s The Free Peach – have shown their support by posting about the Westwood Enabler on their social media platforms, Kwan said. She added that Westwood Enabler leaders encouraged writers to raise awareness about the account’s removal.

The Westwood Enabler is planning a fundraiser event themed around its misfortune, McNeill said, with proceeds going toward the publication’s spring print edition.

Rose said despite uncertainty, members are focusing their efforts to ensure their next print edition is the best it can be.

“There will be so many times that we’re sitting in a room and just riffing and going off on bits,” she said. “There’s not another group of people that can just make me laugh and make me really in awe of the collective wit and humor like the Enabler can.”