Oct 27, 2023 12:26:00

Account that was making pro-Palestinian posts on Instagram was suddenly locked, Meta reports that it was caused by a security issue

In

the Gaza Strip in Palestine, the Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas and Israel are continuing to engage in large-scale military clashes, with more than 7,000 people reportedly dead at the time of writing. In this military conflict, images of the battle and damage caused by both sides have been widely shared on social media. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the account of a user who has more than 6 million followers on Instagram and has been posting pro-Palestinian posts has been locked based on ``security reasons.''

Pro-Palestinian Instagram account locked by Meta for 'security reasons' | Instagram | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/26/pro-palestinian-instagram-account-locked-by-meta-for-security-reasons

Meta says it locked pro-Palestinian accounts after signs of security compromise

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-says-locked-palestinian-accounts-signs-security-compromise-rcna122231

The account ``@eye.on.palestine'' on Instagram, which has over 6 million followers, has been posting videos and images of fighting in the Gaza Strip and people injured in the fighting. The videos and images posted by @eye.on.palestine are from the perspective of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, making them valuable content for general users and journalists.

However, when I try to check posts by '@eye.on.palestine' from around October 25, 2023, I get the message 'This page is unavailable. There may be a problem with the link, or the page may have been removed. ” message is now displayed. Similarly, it has been reported that '@eye.on.palestine2', a backup sub-account of '@eye.on.palestine', is no longer available.

This impact is not limited to Instagram, but Facebook accounts and Thread accounts related to '@eye.on.palestine' are also no longer viewable. Additionally, the '@eye.on.palestine' account has been deleted on X (formerly Twitter).

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, said that the accounts related to @eye.on.palestine were suspended, saying, ``These accounts showed signs of a security breach, so we took security precautions.'' We have locked these accounts for a reason. Meta is currently in the process of contacting the account owners to unlock them.' I emphasized that it is not.

I just received this statement from META on the situation with the Eye on Palestine account:

“These accounts were initially locked for security reasons after signs of compromise, and we're working to make contact with the account owners to ensure they have access. We did not… https://t.co/JLe13S0Nqy

— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) October 25, 2023

On the other hand, Meta has been reported to have mistranslated the profile of an Instagram user who included the idiomatic expression 'ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ' as 'terrorist'. Meta later apologized for the issue, saying, ``It was a translation error due to a glitch, and we fixed it immediately.'' However, some users have pointed out that this is the result of censoring Palestinian content.

Instagram apologizes for mistranslating some Palestinian users' profiles as 'terrorists' - GIGAZINE

Furthermore, it has been pointed out that on Instagram and Facebook, when people make pro-Palestinian posts, they are subject to `` shadow bans, '' which means that the specific content is no longer found when searched, or is no longer displayed on feeds, etc. It is left behind. Regarding this matter, Meta reports that ``It has already been fixed due to a bug unrelated to the content of the post,'' making it clear that it is not censoring pro-Palestinian posts.

Meta claims it's a bug, with reports of people being shadowbanned for pro-Palestinian posts on Instagram and Facebook - GIGAZINE