Instagram leaves up Yiannopoulos post cheering on mail bombs

Instagram on Thursday initially said it would leave up a post from popular right-wing agitator Milo Yiannopoulos cheering on this week’s bomb attacks against Democratic figures and journalists, but then appeared to take it down.

{mosads}In a post on Thursday, reported earlier by The Daily Beast, Yiannopoulos said he wished that outlet had been targeted as well and said he was “sad” that none of the bombs had gone off.

“just catching up with news of all these pipe bombs,” he wrote. “disgusting and sad (that they didn’t go off, and the daily beast didn’t get one).”

Facebook, which owns Instagram, did not respond when asked for comment. The company told The Daily Beast that the post “does not violate our Community Guidelines” after it was flagged by users for hate speech.

Yiannopoulos later complained in a new post that Instagram had reversed course and removed the post for violating “community guidelines.” He called it “mob rule.”

The FBI and local authorities are investigating a rash of suspicious packages apparently containing explosives sent to high-level Democratic figures and CNN this week. 

Each of the intended recipients are frequent targets of criticism from conservatives, including President Trump himself. 

Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart last year following an uproar over comments he had made in which he appeared to endorse having sex with young boys.

Despite the scandal, Yiannopoulos still has a cult following in right-wing internet circles largely due to his willingness to make controversial statements.

-Updated 9 p.m.