In a statement released today, the model stated that when she publishes on the Palestinian crisis, Instagram censors or “shadow bans” her stories.
“My Instagram has prevented me from posting on my story – I’m going to presume it’s pretty much solely when it’s Palestine-related,” the supermodel stated. “When I post about Palestine, I’m shadowbanned right away, and roughly a million of you don’t see my articles or postings.”
During a Q&A two years ago, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri declared, “There is no such thing as shadow banning. If you follow someone on Instagram, their photographs and videos may appear in their feed if they continue to use it.” “Sometimes you’ll get lucky, sometimes you won’t,” he said, adding that appearing on Instagram’s Explore tab “is not guaranteed for anyone.”
Bella and her model sister Gigi Hadid, who are of Palestinian-Dutch descent (their father was born into a Palestinian Muslim family), talk about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine frequently. They drew both praise and criticism during fashion month after stating that they will donate all of their proceeds from fashion presentations to Ukrainians in need (during Russia’s onslaught) and Palestinians.
Some instantly criticized the sisters for being anti-Semitic for speaking out in support of Palestine, but Gigi promptly refuted this claim in a statement, emphasizing that anti-Palestinian sentiment existed as well. “A refugee crisis is a refugee crisis,” Gigi said at the time on her Instagram Story.
“Except for anti-human suffering and anti-war, this is not anti-anything. If you believe that any individual or child, born or growing up in one of the many countries experiencing a refugee crisis, does not deserve this help, you are focusing on the incorrect part of the problem. These children do not have a choice in politics; they are born and reared in it, and they are entitled to a decent existence at the very least.”