Instagram suspends Dominion Society accounts ahead of controversial Hamilton conference

CALGARY — When it rains, it pours. In the wake of the controversy around its upcoming nationalist conference in Hamilton, Ontario, the Dominion Society of Canada has seen Instagram suspend three accounts associated with the group.On Friday, the Dominion Society posted on its X account that three accounts associated with the group had been suspended by Meta — the company that owns Instagram — without warning: its primary account, along with the personal accounts of founder Daniel Tyrie and co-founder Ken Jones..“As we approach DomCon 26 and pressure mounts from the mainstream media and the government, suddenly our Instagram accounts get banned!” the society posted on X.“No warnings. No appeal. Absurd reasons provided, none of which we have ever done. What's going on here?”Meta’s explanation for the suspensions read: “Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organizations.”The removals come two weeks before the Dominion Society hosts DomCon 2026, a conference scheduled for August 29 at an undisclosed private venue near Hamilton.Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath has opposed DomCon and sent letters to local businesses asking them to learn more about the Dominion Society before agreeing to host the event..Tyrie told the Western Standard that the social media accounts had been active earlier on Friday and that he had made a post on Instagram, but was soon contacted by people saying the account was down.He added that the accounts had received no recent warnings and said Instagram did not identify a particular post as the reason for the suspensions.According to Tyrie, he received a private notice from Meta that also said Instagram does not allow users to “follow or share symbols, praise or support of people or organizations” it defines as dangerous.The notice reportedly listed praising terrorist attacks, supporting violence against groups and promoting criminal activities such as human trafficking as examples of prohibited conduct..“We do not praise terrorism. Obviously, we do not support violence, and obviously we don't support anything like human trafficking or any other criminal activity,” Tyrie said.“We very much have a very strong message against violence, and we offer people productive, peaceful channels through which they can influence politics through things like media content, civic engagement, and community building.”Tyrie said his organization had not previously encountered significant problems on Instagram and that Meta did not provide an appeal option, possibly indicating that the suspension was final, although its duration was unspecified..Dominion Society marches ahead with nationalist conference despite Hamilton mayor’s opposition, political pressure.“I’m trying to reach out to some people that might have influence and sway over decisions like this,” he said.“This is a very sudden and strange decision. Even weirder is that our Facebook account, which is also owned by Meta, is still up.”He also suggested the timing could be connected to increased media attention surrounding DomCon, including reports by CBC and The Canadian Press.“I do think that this event has raised our stature and put us on the radar of a lot of people,” he said, before taking shots at American-owned Meta, saying it was “very inappropriate” for American companies to try to silence “peaceful Canadian activists trying to raise awareness of the most important issues.”“It’s very inappropriate, it’s very discouraging, it’s very disappointing, but it’s not going to slow us down,” he said.“We’re not only reliant on social media. We have a grassroots network of supporters that can bring our message directly to Canadians across the country.”

Instagram suspends Dominion Society accounts ahead of controversial Hamilton conference

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