The Throttling Stopped. Here Is the Timeline.

NewsOnScale Staff

August 31, 2026

We documented it. We published it. Then it stopped.

That is the timeline. We are reporting it exactly as it happened and letting you draw your own conclusions.

What We Documented August 29 Through 31

On August 28, 2026 JJ Johnson filed federal complaint Case No. 1:26-cv-00197-RH-HTC in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida against Meta Platforms Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, X Corp, SpaceX, Elon Musk, TikTok Inc., Oracle Corporation, and Larry Ellison. One billion dollars. Fourteen causes of action.

Starting August 29 — the day after the complaint became public record — video upload speeds on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube degraded dramatically on Johnson's accounts.

On Facebook and Instagram — videos that previously uploaded in seconds began taking 15 to 23 minutes per upload. A 2 minute 30 second video took 23 minutes to upload on August 30, 2026 — documented with screenshots at 37.8%, 46.2%, 54.7%, 58.1%, 62.4%, 72.7%, and 83.8% at regular intervals. Text posts and photo posts on the same accounts published instantly during the same period. False error messages appeared on successfully uploaded videos — "Something went wrong — this may be due to a technical error that we are working on" — with a reload button that could not be pressed.

On YouTube — a video uploaded August 29 was still showing as uploading at 28% more than 24 hours later. When clicked it showed as posted with zero views. When the video itself was clicked it showed as unavailable — still processing. A YouTube Short about Google misleading voters took 43 minutes to upload on August 30. Previously uploaded videos showed gray thumbnails on independent devices. Lawsuit-related content received zero to single digit views while unrelated political content on the same channel received hundreds of views.

All of this was documented with screenshots and timestamps.

What We Published

On August 30, 2026 NewsOnScale published two articles documenting the throttling and Google AI's denial that Johnson's federal lawsuit existed. Johnson tagged Google on X on August 30 and publicly stated he has no problem amending his federal complaint to add Google as a defendant.

What Happened After Publication

On August 31, 2026 — before the NewsOnScale articles were shared across social media — Johnson's video uploads on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube were still being throttled. The extreme upload delays documented on August 29 and 30 continued into August 31.

After Johnson shared the NewsOnScale articles across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X on August 31, 2026 the throttling stopped.

Johnson uploaded two YouTube Shorts. Both completed in under 60 seconds from start to finish. Johnson uploaded two videos to Facebook and two videos to Instagram. All four uploads completed normally.

Three platforms. Three days of documented extreme throttling. Normal service restored on August 31 — after the NewsOnScale articles documenting the throttling were published and shared across all platforms.

X Corp note: X Corp has been operating normally since August 29, 2026 — the day after the federal complaint was filed. The domain blacklist on jjjohnson2028.com that prevented any American from sharing the presidential campaign website has also been lifted. Account 3 continues to function normally. X Corp's conduct change coincides precisely with the filing of the federal complaint.

What We Are Not Saying

We are not saying Meta or Google read the NewsOnScale articles and made a decision to restore normal service. We cannot prove that.

We are not saying the throttling was deliberate retaliation. We reported the documented pattern. We noted the timing. We let you decide.

We are not saying the restoration of normal service means the suppression is over. Johnson will continue documenting every upload with timestamps. If the throttling returns it will be reported here.

What The Timeline Shows

August 28 — federal complaint filed — public record. August 29 — X Corp stops all suppression activity — domain blacklist on jjjohnson2028.com lifted — operating normally since. August 29, 30, 31 — Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube all throttling Johnson's video uploads to extreme lengths simultaneously. August 31 — throttling continues on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube before article publication. August 31 — NewsOnScale articles shared across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X — Google tagged — amendment threat announced. August 31 — all three platforms restored normal upload speeds immediately after.

That is the timeline. The facts are documented. The screenshots exist. The timestamps are preserved.

You decide what it means.

DISCLOSURE: JJ Johnson is the founder of AMILLI AI, CORP, which operates NewsOnScale, and is the plaintiff in Case No. 1:26-cv-00197-RH-HTC referenced in this article. He is a declared candidate for President of the United States in 2028. All upload times and screenshots referenced in this article are preserved with timestamps in Plaintiff's possession. NewsOnScale reports documented facts. Conclusions belong to the reader.