Meta has removed the Instagram account of a former far-right Missouri political candidate whose content featured hate speech and violent rhetoric against the LBBTQ+ community.
The former Republican candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, Victoria Gomez, had amassed roughly 90,000 Instagram followers with content that was repeatedly reported by LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations before Meta disabled her account.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the permanent removal of Gomez's Instagram, telling The Advocate, "Due to frequent and repeated violations of Meta's hate speech policies, we have disabled this account."
Gomez's social media content often centered around the LGBTQ+ community, transgender individuals, and prominent pro-LGBTQ+ figures like WNBA star Brittney Griner.
One video showed Gomez using a flamethrower to burn LGBTQ-themed books, claiming she was protecting children from "groomers" in reference to a false conspiracy theory often promoted by extremists.
In another video, she bashed trans athletes, calling for a separate "f****t category" in the Olympics. Despite multiple violations of Meta's hate speech rules, her account remained active for months, raising questions about the platform's enforcement of its policies.
Between August and September, Gomez had posted at least 14 videos containing slurs and inflammatory comments. Despite these clear violations, Meta had not acted, allowing her content to stay online for extended periods, much to the frustration of LGBTQ+ advocates who were pushing for stronger enforcement.
The final straw for Gomez's account was a video rant posted on Sept. 17, where she continued to use hate speech as she lashed out at X (formerly Twitter) for demonetizing her account for using similar language. GLAAD flagged the post to Instagram on September 18, and after 72 hours, Meta removed the video and suspended her account entirely. Meanwhile, on X her account was reinstated Friday.
"It is unfortunate that it took Meta months, and multiple high-profile posts with anti-LGBTQ slurs and hate, to finally make good on fully enforcing its own hate speech policies for accounts like this," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told Advocate. "Hopefully this latest action is a sign that Meta will prioritize enforcing its policies when it comes to disgusting lies, slurs, and calls for violence against our community."
Fallout from Gomez's hate speech has extended beyond her social media accounts and failed political bid, affecting her family. Her brother, Jonathan Gomez-Noriega, was fired from his position as an aide to Jersey City's mayor, Steven Fulop, when his financial contributions to Gomez's political campaign were made public and implied support for her inflammatory rhetoric.
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