On 17 May 2026, Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, 41 years old, declared on his X account that his account on Instagram has been permanently disabled by Meta.

Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads.

He explained what happened as follows, “After weeks of trying to regain access to my @instagram account, which was temporarily suspended while I was wrongfully detained, I FINALLY got a backup code which allowed me to login only to receive this prompt that We’ve disabled your account.”

The message said, “You no longer have access to ahmedeldin,” due to the fact that, “Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards,” and confirmed, “No one can see or find your account and you can’t use it. All your information will be permanently deleted.” Meta also denied him the right to appeal this arbitrary decision, noting, “You cannot request another review of this decision.”

On 23 April 2026, Shihab-Eldin was among those acquitted by the State Security and Terrorism Crimes Chamber of the Criminal Court. On 24 April 2026, after 52 days of arbitrary detention, he left Kuwait. On 03 March 2026, while visiting his family, Shihab-Eldin was arrested due to his social media posts.

He and his two sisters, Lara and Loma, were stripped of their Kuwaiti citizenship days after he was acquitted by the court and released from prison, along with 21 other citizens whose names were included in a decision issued against them by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Fahd Al-Yousef.

Recommendations

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) declares its full solidarity with journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin as he faces this unjust measure that prevents him from the peaceful and legitimate use of his personal Instagram account to express his opinions peacefully and civilly. GCHR calls on Meta to rescind this unfair decision immediately and unconditionally.

Meta should provide all its users with clear, specific explanations for why accounts are disabled or content is flagged, rather than vague and meaningless notifications.

Meta should also create a thorough, human rights focused appeal process that protects freedom of expression of all users without any discrimination. Users’ accounts and content should not be suspended or removed due to Meta’s reliance on automated algorithms. Direct human intervention is required to protect freedom of expression online.

Photo credit: Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s X account