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Tag: instagram

  • Palestinian content leaves Israel miles behind on social media

    Palestinian content leaves Israel miles behind on social media

    While activists and civilians flood the streets across the world protesting for Palestine, social media is actively reflecting the changing tides. Currently, the hashtag #FreePalestine has over 2 billion views on TikTok, while in contrast the hashtag #standwithIsrael has over 162.8 million views.

    In a statement posted on Monday, the social media platform responded to US Representative (R) Mike Gallagher’s allegations that TikTok was “controlled by America’s s foremost adversary, one that does not share our interests or our values: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)”, calling for America to ban the app.

    TikTok said the overwhelming support teens have for Palestine is dominating the app’s algorithm.

    “Support for Israel (as compared to sympathy for Palestine) has been lower among younger Americans for some time. This is evidenced by looking at Gallup polling data of millennials dating as far back as 2010, long before TikTok even existed. A March 2023 Gallup poll, before the war, shows young adults have rapidly shifting attitudes towards the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. While an Echelon poll from October 26, 2023 shows that US TikTok users under 40 are more likely to support Israel (33% vs 28% for Palestine), and the proportions broadly reflect the split in the general under 40 population (32% for Israel, 23% for Palestine).”

    Other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram show more audiences engage with the pro-Palestinian content than with Israel’s. Instagram shows that the hashtag #FreePalestine has over 6 million views, while in comparison #IstandwithIsrael has gained only 233,000 views.

    Instagram was being taken to task by users for censoring and shadow banning prominent pro-Palestinian voices who were reporting on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Freelance journalist Plestia Alaqad reported her Instagram account was hacked.

    Furthermore, journalist Ahmed reported he was locked out of his Instagram account and was warned it would be shut down for violating the company’s guideline.

    On Facebook, the #FreePalestine hashtag has over 11 million views while in comparison the #IstandwithIsrael hashtag has over 323,000 views.

  • Instagram page, Eye on Palestine, restored

    Instagram page, Eye on Palestine, restored

    According to officials from Meta, the owner of Eye of Palestine has been given access to their account.

    Previously, the widely followed Instagram account Eye on Palestine (@eye.on.palestine), that had been extensively covering the situation in Gaza, has been removed by Meta.

    It reportedly had more than six million followers.

    It also had a second page created as a back-up which was also removed.

    People react:

    Here is how can make sure you are able to keep up with all the posts of other similar accounts that are being censored:

  • Instagram influencers to follow for updates on Gaza

    Instagram influencers to follow for updates on Gaza

    Here is a list of people you can follow on Instagram to stay updated on what is happening in Gaza:

    Here is how can make sure you are able to keep up with all the posts of other similar accounts that are being censored:

  • Meta sued by 40 US states for causing mental health problems

    Meta sued by 40 US states for causing mental health problems

    40 US states sued Meta — the owner company of Facebook and Instagram.

    The renowned tech company has been accused to have caused mental health crises in youth. The attorneys general said that these social media apps tend to “exploit and manipulate” children.

    The case highlights dangers of social media platforms stemming from their focus on financial gain. The young users are exploited using a business model to get them addicted to spending too much time on social media, which can consequently harm their mental health.

    According to the complaint, various researches show that youth using Meta’s social media platforms undergo depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other mental health related issues .

    The complaint was made in 2021 after Meta’s own research showed the company was aware of the harm Instagram was causing to young people, especially girls.

    These states have requested the court to impose heavy fines on Meta and order them to pay compensation.

  • Meta issues apology for labelling pro-Palestinian users as terrorists on Instagram 

    Meta issues apology for labelling pro-Palestinian users as terrorists on Instagram 

    Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has issued an apology for an incident where the term “terrorist” was added to the profile bios of certain Instagram users identifying themselves as Palestinian.

    The issue arose when the word “Palestinian” was written in English on their profiles, along with the Palestinian flag emoji and the Arabic phrase “Alhamdulillah” (which translates to “Praise be to God”). 

    Upon auto-translation to English, the phrase read: “Praise be to God, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom.”

    “We fixed a problem that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations in some of our products. We sincerely apologise that this happened,” a Meta spokesperson said.

    This translation error was pointed out by a TikTok user, khanman1996, who tested various combinations and found that they all translated to “terrorist.” It’s worth noting that @khanman1996, although not Palestinian himself, discovered this issue after being informed by a Palestinian friend. 

    Meta has acknowledged and rectified the problem, stating that it was a technical error rather than an intentional action. Additionally, the platform has faced accusations of suppressing content expressing support for Palestinians, particularly during the Israel-Gaza conflict.

    Some users reported being “shadow banned,” a practice where posts are intentionally made less visible to others, allegedly due to their pro-Palestinian content. 

    Meta responded to these accusations, clarifying that a bug affecting Stories (a feature on Instagram) occurred, reducing the reach of posts, but insisted that it was unrelated to the content’s subject matter.

    The company stated that new measures have been implemented to tackle harmful content on their platforms, particularly during times of conflict, and denied deliberately suppressing anyone’s voice.

    This follows previous accusations of Instagram suppressing pro-Palestinian content, raising concerns about social media platforms’ handling of sensitive political topics. 

  • Israel official account attacks Gigi Hadid on Insta, gets crushed on Twitter

    Israel official account attacks Gigi Hadid on Insta, gets crushed on Twitter

    Last week, the official account of Israel drew backlash on X (formerly Twitter) when it attacked Pakistani cricket player Muhammad Rizwan after he dedicated his performance in the victory over Sri Lanka to the people of Gaza. On Monday, the official account of Israel on Instagram chose to target Palestinian-American model Gigi Hadid for a statement she gave about Palestinian genocide. The model shared a post clarifying that supporting the Free Palestinian movement was not anti-semitic.

    The Israeli account shared Hadid’s post and wrote in the caption: “Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes. Your silence is clear about where you stand. We see you.”

    The ‘Jewish babies butchered’ story stems from unverified claims about 40 babies murdered by Hamas.

    READ MORE: Did Hamas actually decapitate Israeli children and women? No, they did not.

    However, the death toll of Palestinian children killed by Israeli strikes has crossed 1000, according to Defense For Children International Palestine.

    Twitter (or X) users were outraged over the blatant manner a Palestinian woman was being targeted on the internet. One user wrote: “i hope more people will see how disgusting it is for a state affiliated account to attack a celeb like this. she is palestinian, she stands with her own people, she knows what happened and they are afraid of that. stop harassing her and stop k!lling palestinians.”

    Many people were quick to remind other users that Gigi’s father, Mohammad Hadid, was forcibly expelled along with his family during the 1948 Nakba. In a podcast, Mohammad Hadid revealed his family was not allowed to go back to their home in Safa after the expulsion.

    READ MORE: There is a painful history behind why supermodels Gigi, Bella Hadid support the Palestinian cause

  • Five Palestinian accounts to follow for live updates from Gaza

    Five Palestinian accounts to follow for live updates from Gaza

    Here is a list of five Instagram accounts of Palestinians who are currently present in Gaza and have been actively updating on the Israel-Palestine escalation since October 7.

    1. Plestia Alaqad @byplestia

    2. Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza

    3. Ali Jadallah @alijadallah66

    4. Hind Khoudary @hindkhoudary

    5. Lara @gazangirl

  • ‘A lot of cricketers flirt with me in DM’s’: Nawal Saeed

    ‘A lot of cricketers flirt with me in DM’s’: Nawal Saeed

    Actress Nawal Saeed recently appeared as a guest on Momin Saqib’s show ‘Had Kar Di’ where she completely shocked audiences by revealing she has recieved flirtatious messages from Pakistani cricketers.

    The actress said that she had not taken screenshots but still had the messages in her phone, hilariously pointing out the absurdity in the matter:

    “You’re representing Pakistan and you have a blue tick on your profile. How are you randomly messaging any girl and praising her?” Nawal laughed, further adding that this was not the right thing to do.

    When Momin asked what the actress says to the cricketers, Saeed said she tells them she will pray for them. “You are representing Pakistan with your green shirts. Please don’t do this it looks weird.”

    Nawal did not reveal the names of the cricketers who had sent her messages.

    Watch the hilarious interaction below:

  • ‘Actors are not prostitutes’: Mariyam Nafees slams stalker sending vulgar messages

    ‘Actors are not prostitutes’: Mariyam Nafees slams stalker sending vulgar messages

    Actress Mariyam Nafees has had enough with stalkers assuming it’s their right to be lewd to actresses.

    Nafees shared a screenshot on her Instagram stories of a message she recieved from an unknown person, who was trying to solicit a meeting with her after seeing her at the Lux Style Awards. The stalker tried to persuade Mariyam to hold a meeting, and asked her to name an amount.

    To which she had responded: “Bet your mom is ashamed to have a child like you. Not every woman is ‘bought-able’ you s****. Good luck dealing with my ‘friends’!”

    Mariyam shared the screenshot of the conversation and wrote in the caption: “Married or not- this never stops! Actors are not prostitutes!”

    In her next post, Nafees shared the complete contact information of the stalker, writing that she plans to expose the harassers this way.

    Another woman messaged Mariyam, whose conversation screenshots the actress shared in her Instagram stories. In the conversation, the woman solicited the actress to agree to take a photoshoot with a Pakistani magazine which innvolved “political level parties and bold shoots.”

    In 2021, Mariyam shared pictures of the indecent messages she recieved on Instagram from a man who asked her to visit his friend for a few hours and in return she’d recieve three lacs. Sharing the messages, the actress wrote in the caption:

    “The point of putting this up is because I truly want to put a stop to this.
    I don’t know who’s responsible for these morons to think this way and who’s entertaining them but no! Absolutely not! I and my esteemed co-actresses respectfully work for twelve hours (sometimes more) everyday and we refuse to tolerate this mentality. We come from educated backgrounds to make a name for ourselves, nobody and I mean NOT A SINGLE PERSON is allowed to disrespect us.

    Actresses are not prostitutes!”

    Her outspoken message was applauded by Adnan Siddiqui who defended her in a tweet, pointing out that actors were professionals like everyone else and were not for sale.

    “For those who think otherwise, let me put the record straight. Actors are NOT for sale. We work hard and work honestly as much as any other professional. No one’s allowed to disrespect us. Atta girl MariyamNafees”, Adnan tweeted.

  • Fatima Bhutto has advice for celebs and their ‘hot takes’ on Palestine

    Fatima Bhutto has advice for celebs and their ‘hot takes’ on Palestine

    As the Palestine seige continues to rage on, several celebrities expresses their opinions, however, most of them received backlash. Rapper Talha Anjum and former wife to Imran Khan, Jemima Goldsmith were slammed by social media for releasing statements that were taking a neutral stance.

    Writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto has taken it upon herself to advice celebrities that it’s okay for them to refuse to comment on the Palestine war, because sometimes it’s better to stay silent than bombard others with unverified facts!

    “Will celebrities and their PR teams please stop issuing statements on Palestine? They are incoherent and dishonest. When you have no courage of conviction it shows . There is slaughter taking place,” Bhutto wrote.

    In the next slide, Bhutto shared the irony of whether these celebrities would give the same ‘all side’s matter’ monologue during gruesome sieges including the Warsaw Ghetto or Rwanda.

    “All I can say is thank god these celebs weren’t asked for their solidarity during Jim Crow (they’d find ways to ‘hold space for both sides’), the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Rwanda, the Bosnian war or any other massacres and gross injustices of our times.”

    Yesterday Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was criticised by social media users for her statement on the Palestine-Israel war, with several users questioning why the Pakistani activist was quick to condemn the Ukrainian war, but not this.