Controversial activist Shaun King’s Instagram account has been permanently removed from the Meta platform after he shared his opinions on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The Black Lives Matter supporter has since taken to his friend’s Instagram page to address the ban.
Trigger Warning: The following article discusses the Israel-Palestine conflict. Reader’s discretion is advised.
For those unversed, activist Shaun King went viral across social media platforms after he claimed that he played a role in two Americans being freed from Hamas’ captivity. However, the hostages, Natalie Raanan and her mother Judith Tai Raanan, confirmed in a statement that they were unaware of Shaun King’s identity and were certain that he was “lying.”
The social media influencer who boasts over six million followers on Instagram has also been posting several anti-Israel statements on the website in recent weeks which has appeared to have got him in trouble.
X (formerly known as Twitter) user @yashar revealed that Meta had confirmed that Shaun King’s account had been permanently banned. Meta said in a statement:
“The account was disabled due to multiple instances of praise for designated entities in violation of our policies.”
Netizens also seemingly hinted that Shaun King’s opinions about Ansar Allah played a role in King’s account removal.
Ansar Allah means 'Supporters of God'
Although what Shaun King exactly posted about Ansar Allah on the social networking site remains unclear at the time of writing this article, it is well known that the group’s mission is to destroy the U.S. and Israel.
Ansar Allah, or Houthis as they called themselves in the past, are Zaydi Shiites, who are a minority community in the Islamic world. Their name of Zadiyyah originates from Zayd bin Ali, who is the great grandson of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.
He was best known for fighting corruption and being a righteous man. In honor of him, the Houthis made fighting corruption their core political mission.
The Houthis established themselves in Yemen and had a pivotal movement of their own during America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. They adopted the slogan:
“God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.”
Houthis also went on to call themselves Ansar Allah, which also means- “supporters of God.”
"I refuse to betray my values and principles": Shaun King addresses ban on social media
Shaun King recently took to his friend’s Instagram to address the ban. He claimed that the social networking site informed him that he was removed from the website for supporting “dangerous organization.”
King went on to opine that Yemen was not dangerous and was trying to end the Israel-Palestine conflict. He continued to show support to Palestine and question the IDF in his recent address.
King went on to say in the caption of his video:
“Frustrated that Instagram has banned me for fighting for Palestine, and speaking up for the human rights and dignity of Palestinians, but I refuse to betray my values and principles by staying silent about this genocide and the war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.”
King’s account ban comes in light of international non-profit organization Human Rights Watch criticizing Meta for their “systemic censorship” in relation to Israel-Gaza posts.
They claimed that the social media giant displayed patterns of “undue removal and suppression of protected speech including peaceful expression in support of Palestine.”
This is not the first time an activist’s social media account has been banned. Yesterday, pro-Palestinian activist Mohammed el-Kurd had his X account taken down after promoting antisemitism on the website.
