Despite harassment, Gazan social media warriors show resilience

Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh. Pic/Twitter

As social media platforms, especially Elon Musk-run X, face intense scrutiny over promoting anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate, Gaza's Gen-Z social media warriors are fighting on their own to disseminate pro-Palestinian voices to their followers despite mounting challenges.

One such digital platform for Gen-Z and millennial Muslims - called Muslim and founded by Palestinian Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh - is charting a new path for his community amid the disinformation around the Israel-Gaza war.

The Muslim brand consists of its main site, Muslim.co, where articles on news, opinions, lifestyle and culture are regularly posted; its Instagram page@Muslim and its TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter handles to stop the flow of misinformation.

"I couldn't find a Muslim community on Instagram so I created it," Al-Khatahtbeh told Insider a couple of years ago. "For me, the content is for Gen-Z Muslims, and who knows the best way to cater to them than a Gen-Z Muslim themselves?"

Years later, Al-Khatahtbeh, 25, has amassed more than two million followers on TikTok and more than five million on Instagram, where posts to his account @Muslim give the latest news from the Israel-Gaza war. "There are a lot of people that had their posts taken down or were restricted from using Instagram's live video feature for posts supporting Palestinians," he told The Washington Post.

The Israel-Gaza war has once again placed TikTok at the centre. On TikTok, both the #Israel and #Palestine hashtags have attracted tens of billions of views as young people turn to the platform for news and perspectives on the conflict.

A pro-Palestinian hashtag, #freepalestine, had around 770 million views in the US, according to TikTok data. TikTok, like Facebook and YouTube, bans videos or comments promoting Hamas under its rules against extremist groups.

According to Al-Khatahtbeh, he has seen some Palestinian creators get bullied and threatened. He was quoted saying in the report that some videos have been made mocking Palestinians who have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

5M
No of followers Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh earned on Instagram

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