The family who was kicked off of a United Airlines flight because their 2-year-old was not wearing a face mask said Instagram threatened to delete the mother’s account over the viral video.
“I have to say the story takes a turn from there because now the family says their videos of this incident have been censored from Twitter and Instagram. … Instagram threatened to delete the mom’s account. So not only did they get kicked off the airline, now she might get booted off social media just for posting the footage,” Fox News’s Carley Shimkus reported Monday on America’s Newsroom.
Eliz Orban and her husband Erhard Orban, who live in Colorado, joined Fox & Friends earlier on Monday and said that Twitter and Instagram both censored their posts regarding them being kicked off the flight.
Twitter initially put a “sensitive content” warning on their post but has since removed the warning, while Instagram showed a warning saying, “Your account may be deleted,” according to the segment.
Eliz Orban has also provided updates of the censorship on her Twitter account.
Thank you Twitter for “sensoring” my video because so many people are outraged by why is happening. How far is this “control” going to go? pic.twitter.com/LM0Stf8GQr
— Eliz Orban (@elizfulop) December 12, 2020
A Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner: “Twitter uses proactive, automated systems to detect problematic content at scale, part of our work to improve the health of conversations on the service. In the case you referenced, our automated system produced a false positive, and we’ve since resolved the issue.”
The video of the family being kicked off the flight went viral on Friday and had nearly 5 million views as of Monday afternoon.
“Today we got kicked off of a United flight going from Denver to Newark because our 2yo would not ‘comply’ and keep her mask on. Go see the full IGTV on my Instagram,” Orban wrote in the caption of a tweet, accompanied by the video.
Today we got kicked off of a United flight going from Denver to Newark because our 2yo would not “comply” and keep her mask on. Go see the full IGTV on my Instagram @elizfulop ? pic.twitter.com/KXCICsBSMj
— Eliz Orban (@elizfulop) December 12, 2020
United Airlines told the Washington Examiner that the face mask policy amid the coronavirus also includes children as young as 2 years old.
“The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have a multi-layered set of policies, including mandating that everyone onboard two and older wears a mask,” United Airlines said. “These procedures are not only backed by guidance from the CDC and our partners at the Cleveland Clinic, but they’re also consistent across every major airline.”
Instagram did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
