‘Platformicide’ of Palestine: Activists struggle to be heard on Meta
A report by Palestinian NGO 7amleh and Utrecht University analyses 3,520 cases of digital rights violations against Palestinians.
Jerusalem-based journalist Faten Elwan has more than 300,000 followers on her Instagram account, a page which regularly covers events in Palestine and documents the Israeli occupation, but now her posts typically get just a few hundred views.
In April 2026, Elwan was on a hike when she discovered her account had been unexpectedly reactivated after a two-month suspension, something she believes was due to her pro-Palestine content.
Her first story back on the platform was of her walk along the sea and reached 30,000 views. Within an hour, the number for later stories had dropped to a few hundred.
She is one of many pro-Palestinian account holders who believe they have been “shadow-banned” by Meta, a technique allegedly used by social media companies to restrict the visibility of certain accounts, consequently limiting the number of people who can see their content.
“People tell me: if we don’t specifically search for you and type your name, ‘Faten Elwan’, together, we can’t find you. I no longer exist,” she told Al Jazeera.
Elwan’s account was suspended for the first time in late 2023, shortly after the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and her account has been taken down eight times during the war. In May 2025, Elwan managed to meet representatives of Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, to flag her silencing on their platforms, but she said their response to her complaint appeared dismissive and noncommitted.
“During my meeting with Meta, they heard my statement, and there was no reaction whatsoever. I gave my statement and provided examples of what happened to me, how I’m technically just a shadow on social media,” she said.
“We all used to have a school principal. The principal would punish the bad student and shut him up. Meta is simply playing that same role, but on a global scale.”
Shadow banning
Elwan’s case is one of many documented in a report investigating how Meta has allegedly suppressed Palestinian voices over the past five years, including during successive Israeli assaults on Gaza.... READ MORE https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/platformicide-of-palestine-activists-struggle-to-be-heard-on-meta