Amid growing concerns over the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices, Emmy Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda’s TikTok account has been permanently banned by the platform.
Owda announced the ban in a video posted on Instagram and X on Wednesday, January 28. “TikTok deleted my account. I had 1.4 million followers there, and I have been building that platform for four years,” she said in the video, filmed from Gaza.
The young Palestinian lifestyle influencer-turned-journalist is known for her daily videos from Gaza, often beginning with the line, “It’s Bisan from Gaza, and I’m still alive.”
“I expected that it would be restricted, like every time, not banned forever. Posts that some may find uncomfortable are unavailable,” she added. Over her four-year journey, Owda amassed more than 19.1 million likes on TikTok.
Owda had recently shared remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and TikTok CEO Adam Presser, highlighting concerns that social media, particularly TikTok, was allegedly being used as a tool to shape anti-Zionist sentiment.
During his visit to the United States, Netanyahu met pro-Israeli influencers and stated, “The most important purchase that is going on right now is … TikTok. Number one, number one, and I hope it goes through, because it can be consequential.”
TikTok CEO Adam Presser has recently outlined changes to the platform’s moderation policies, including treating “the use of the term Zionist as a proxy for a protected attribute” as hate speech. “There’s no finish line to moderating hate speech, identifying hateful trends, trying to keep the platform safe,” he said.
Almost a year ago, the US reportedly threatened TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, stating that failure to sell its US operations to American investors could result in a ban. The key point of contention has been TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm, which determines what content users see.
On January 22, TikTok finalised its deal to form a new American entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, officially ending years of uncertainty and ensuring the platform’s continued operation in the United States, following approvals from both US and Chinese authorities.