Instagram Removed a Portland Cartoonist’s Post About Antifa “Milkshakes” After Right-Wing Trolls Reported It

A Portland cartoonist briefly saw his art disappear from Instagram for "promoting violence and dangerous organizations" after right-wing trolls reported a political cartoon that juxtaposed a mass shooter motivated by white supremacy with a masked antifascist throwing a milkshake.

After Rolling Stone first reported on the apparent censorship, Instagram restored the post, saying it had been taken down in error.

Cartoonist Matt Bors, who edits a magazine for political cartoons called The Nib, told Rolling Stone he was frustrated with the how media organizations cover white nationalist and white supremacist violence, and how they cover comparatively small actions by antifascists, or antifa.

"Antifa dumps a milkshake on some incel chud and we hear about how fascism is taking over the country from the left," he told Rolling Stone, "while multiple terrorist attacks and pogroms inspired by the president go mostly unremarked upon by major media outlets."

The post came following weeks of calls to designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization after some masked protesters threw milkshakes and punches at a June 29 rally in Portland. (Right-wing anger over the June 29 assault of a conservative videographer has led to an impending confrontation on the Portland waterfront Aug. 17, as far-right groups demand the criminalization of antifa.)

"Regardless of what you think of [anti-fascist protesters'] politics of confrontation, I think it's easy to see how this is a terrible overreach that will define broad swaths of left-wing resistors as criminal terrorists," Bors told Rolling Stone.