What You Need to Know
• Faten Elwan, a Jerusalem-based journalist, has over 300,000 Instagram followers, but her posts receive minimal views.
• Elwan’s account was reactivated in April 2026 after a two-month suspension linked to her pro-Palestine content.
• A report by 7amleh documented over 3,500 cases of digital rights violations affecting Palestinian voices on social media.
Faten Elwan, a Jerusalem-based journalist, has experienced a significant decline in engagement on her Instagram account, which covers events in Palestine and the Israeli occupation. Despite having over 300,000 followers, her posts now garner only a few hundred views, a situation she attributes to being “shadow-banned” by Meta, the parent company of Instagram. After her account was reactivated in April 2026, her initial post reached 30,000 views, but subsequent posts quickly fell to a few hundred views. Elwan’s account faced multiple suspensions since late 2023, coinciding with the escalation of violence in Gaza, and she reported a dismissive response from Meta representatives regarding her concerns about censorship. Her experience is part of a broader trend of alleged suppression of Palestinian voices on social media platforms.
Why It Matters
The issue of digital rights violations against Palestinian voices is highlighted by Faten Elwan’s experience and documented in the report by 7amleh, the Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media. This report analyzed over 3,500 verified cases of suppression on social media platforms, particularly during periods of conflict in Gaza. The term “platformicide” was coined to describe the systematic silencing of Palestinian narratives online. Understanding these violations is crucial as they reflect broader issues of freedom of expression and the role of social media companies in moderating content related to sensitive geopolitical conflicts.
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