By Becky Usman

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has issued an apology for a translation error that added the word “terrorist” to the biographies of some Instagram users identifying themselves as Palestinian. The company acknowledged the problem, explaining it was caused by inappropriate Arabic translations and has since been rectified. Users had raised concerns about being “shadow banned,” a practice where platforms limit an account’s visibility due to content violations. Instagram has faced allegations of suppressing pro-Palestinian content during the Israel-Gaza conflict, with some users reporting reduced views on their posts and difficulty in search visibility. Meta’s communications director emphasized that the issue was a global bug affecting various accounts and was swiftly resolved, unrelated to the content’s subject matter.