Instagram has apologised to supermodel Bella Hadid following her public criticism of the social media platform for deleting a post she shared showing her father’s place of birth as Palestine.
After the Palestinian-American supermodel posted an image of real estate mogul Mohammed Hadid’s long-expired passport, with the passport number blurred out, Instagram sent her a removal notice claiming her post went against “community guidelines”.
Hadid, 23, directly called out the social media site as she wrote, “what part of me being proud of my father’s birthplace of Palestine is ‘bullying, harassment, graphic or sexual nudity?’”
In response, Instagram said in a statement that the content “shouldn’t have been removed”.
“To protect the privacy of our community, we don’t allow people to post personal information, such as passport numbers, on Instagram,” said a spokesman from Instagram’s parent company Facebook.
“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.”
The model re-posted the passport photo, which currently remains on her social media feed, and stated, “Do you want him to change his birth place for you? Everyone should post where their mother and fathers were born today! Remind them how proud you are of where you come from! I am proud to be Palestinian.”
Palestinian-born Mohamed, 71, and her supermodel daughter, Gigi Hadid, reposted Bella’s Instagram Story on to their profile in a show of support with a tag that said, “Proud”.”
The Hadid family have been vocal advocates of Palestinian rights for years, using their platforms to promote the cause.
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