For the world outside, social media has become an extensive medium to witness the humanitarian crisis that currently plagues Gaza as Israel continues to stick to its ground offensive operation. The role of social media becomes more than a watchdog during wartime --- a medium to shape public narrative and a tool to disseminate otherwise uncooked information.
As the Israeli airstrikes continue to bomb Gaza restricting the lives of civilians, it seems their voices too have become restricted on social media. Several users have taken to social media on Meta’s ‘shadowbanning’ of content related to the sufferings of Palestinians. Social media users have complained that posts and accounts have been suspended or banned due to their pro-Palestinian content in the wake of Israel’s intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Since Saturday, scores of Instagram users have complained that views of their posts, condemning Israel’s war crimes, have been shadow-banned by the Meta-owned platform.
Fatima Bhutto, Pakistani writer and niece of the country's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, took to X (formerly Twitter) and said: "@instagram is locking people out of my comments, limiting them. They are shadow-banning anyone posting about Gaza and if I harbored any illusions about freedom of speech etc I’d be surprised, but here we are."
Wonder, what is shadow-baning?
Shadow-baning refers to the act of hiding or restricting a user's content without informing the user that it's happening. It often reduces viewers of posts and stories, and even blocks users from commenting on them.
Ahmed, a journalist and media personality also took to X and wrote, “It is confirmed my videos on Instagram, when shared by thousands through stories, are completely inaccessible and do not play. This is shadow banning and dramatically limits the reach of ppl like me reporting real news.” “Stop silencing Palestinians,” he said.
Another user, named Amy, made a similar allegation, when she wrote, “I noticed that my stories from last night on Instagram were randomly gone this morning and now my current stories have gotten 2 views in 2+ hours. Instagram shadowbanned me for sharing the truth of whats happening in Gaza. End the genocide and free Palestine.”
Mondoweiss, a news and analysis account dedicated to Palestine with platforms on X and TikTok, reported that its TikTok account had been temporarily taken down, reported Arab News.
Users have also alleged how their views were reduced to a mere single number when they posted pro-Palestine content on their Instagram stories.
However, Meta has refused such allegations of taking sides over censorship of content.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone took to X and posted, "We identified a bug impacting all Stories that re-shared Reels and Feed posts, meaning they weren’t showing up properly in people’s Stories tray, leading to significantly reduced reach.”
He further added that the bug affected other content as well and “had nothing to do with the subject matter of the content”. Meta claimed that it resolved it quickly.
Shadowbanning has been a real whenever situations have led to controversies and debate over people’s rights in conflicts and attacking of age-old social structures.
