Instagram apologises to Bella Hadid over Palestine post removal
Spokesperson says it was a ‘mistake’ but did not have to do with its Palestine reference
Instagram has apologised to Bella Hadid for taking down a post where she expressed pride in her father’s birthplace of Palestine.
On Tuesday, the 23-year-old model blasted the social media platform after they sent her a removal notice claiming that her post went against “community guidelines”.
The post in question included an image of real estate mogul dad Mohammed Hadid’s long-expired passport, with the passport number blurred out.
“Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram?” Hadid questioned.
Now a Facebook company spokesperson has reached out to Gulf News to clarify their “mistake”.
“To protect the privacy of our community, we don’t allow people to post personal information, such as passport numbers, on Instagram. In this case the passport number was blurred out, so this content shouldn’t have been removed. We’ve restored the content and apologised to Bella for the mistake,” said the spokesperson on Thursday.
They also claimed that they do not remove content based on people’s nationality or ethnicity and that, in this instance, they did not remove Hadid’s because of its reference to Palestine.
Hadid blasts Instagram: ‘This, to me, is bullying’
Hadid earlier called out Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, for taking down her post.
“Instagram removed my story that only said ‘My baba and his birthplace of Palestine’ with a photograph of his American passport,” she wrote.
Instagram claimed the post went against their “community guidelines” that target violence, harassment, hate speech and sexual content.
“@instagram exactly what part of me being proud of my fathers birth place of Palestine is ‘bullying, harassment, graphic, or sexual nudity’?” Hadid wrote.
“Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram? This, to me, is bullying … You can’t erase history by silencing people. It doesn’t work like that,” she added.
She re-posted the deleted scan of her father’s passport, which shows him being born in Palestine on November 6, 1948.
“Do you want him to change his birthplace for you?” Hadid wrote. “I am proud to be Palestinian … Everyone should post where their mother and fathers were born today! Remind them how proud you are of where you come from!!!”
Bella’s sister, model Gigi Hadid, reposted Bella’s Instagram call-out, saying “THIS” and “PROUD”.