Activists slam Instagram for restricting images of Palestinian girl killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes

Activists online have slammed the photo-sharing app Instagram for reportedly censoring images of Alaa Qaddoum, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli air strikes on Friday in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Activist and hip-hop artist Lowkey took to Twitter to indicate that the Meta-owned app had deleted an Instagram story post regarding Alaa’s killing on the grounds of "violating community guidelines on violent or dangerous organisations".

It appears that Instagram is censoring pictures of Alaa Abdullah Riyad Qaddoum, the 5-year-old girl killed by Israel yesterday.

Worth noting that former Israeli goverment censor, Emi Palmor, is on the content moderating Oversight Board for Instagram and Facebook.

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) August 6, 2022

Lowkey described the move as shadow-banning, which refers to blocking or partially blocking a user from posting specific content on networking sites or online communities.

Several activists, journalists and celebrities- including Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid – have been subjected to the practice when attempting to post Palestine-related content.

Both Instagram and Facebook have faced repeated accusations of censorship of Palestinian content, particularly during the war waged by Israel on Gaza last year, as well the forced expulsions of Palestinian families in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah, as well as raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The multi-hyphenated activist, who has campaigned staunchly for the Palestinian cause, said that while the post with respect to the five-year-old was still up on one Palestinian solidarity account, others were prevented from re-sharing the post on their own page.

He also pointed out that former Israeli government censor, Emi Palmor, is on the content moderating Oversight Board for Instagram and Facebook.

The Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition, the Council of Palestinian Human Rights Organisations and the Palestinian NGOs Network have all previously urged Facebook to "consider the dire consequences that choosing Emi Palmor may have in particular for Palestinian defenders of human rights and freedom of expression on the internet".

However, activists were able to circulate some images of Alaa on other social networking sites following her killing, with several people expressing their sadness over her death, as well as solidarity with her family and other residents of Gaza who are currently being subjected to a third day of aggressive Israeli bombardment.

Israel on Sunday carried out further attacks on the besieged enclave, were more than 30 people have been killed, including six children. The Gaza healthy ministry further reported that more than 250 people have also been injured.