Restrictions targeting Palestinian content.. What happened to Bisan Owda's TikTok account?

The TikTok platform banned the account of Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda from the Gaza Strip, despite being followed by more than 1.4 million people, without providing any official justifications, before the platform later reactivated the account with restrictions on its content and dissemination.

Owda said, in an interview with sources, that her account was initially permanently deleted, without providing any mechanism for appeal or communication with the platform's management, explaining that the ban message stated that the account could not be recovered or even data downloaded from it.

She added that the account was restored after widespread uproar on social media and the intervention of institutions concerned with protecting the digital rights of Palestinians.

Owda pointed out that her account, despite its return, is still subject to restrictions, including classifying the content as "sensitive" and preventing it from appearing in recommendations, considering that what happened falls within a broader pattern of restrictions affecting Palestinian content on digital platforms.

The ban on Bisan Owda's account comes at a time when users within the United States are complaining about the tightening of content policies on TikTok, since the platform's management transferred to new owners, amid escalating controversy over freedom of expression and content related to the Palestinian issue.

Owda confirmed that dozens of Palestinian accounts of journalists and activists were permanently deleted or restricted without being restored, stressing that social media platforms have become a central arena for influencing public opinion, especially among young people, which makes them a site of conflict over narratives.

Owda called for continued use of all available digital platforms to present the Palestinian narrative, with the importance of developing alternative platforms, considering that leaving any empty digital space contributes to solidifying opposing narratives, in light of what she described as the decline in the role of traditional media and the dominance of major platform policies over content.