Instagram Accused of Censoring Content Related to Israel–Hamas War

Investigation reveals demotion of war images, suppression of hashtags, and issues with the appeals process.

Instagram has been accused of shadowbanning and censoring content related to the Israel–Hamas war, affecting users' ability to share and engage with posts supporting Palestine.
The Markup's investigation found that Instagram demoted nongraphic images of war, deleted captions, suppressed hashtags, and limited users' ability to appeal moderation decisions.
Users reported a lack of transparency and effectiveness in Instagram's appeals process, with some not given the option to appeal decisions categorizing their content as spam.
Experiments conducted by The Markup revealed that Instagram's content moderation practices did not show clear evidence of shadowbanning based on an account's history of advocacy or community violations.
Meta, Instagram's parent company, acknowledges errors in content moderation but denies any systematic suppression of specific voices.