Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda with 1.4m followers reports TikTok ban

Emmy-winning Owda points to changes in TikTok’s US ownership, remarks from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to explain ban.Published On 29 Jan 2026Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has said she has been permanently banned from TikTok, days after the social media platform was acquired by new investors in the United States.Owda, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera’s AJ+ from Gaza, shared a video on her Instagram and X accounts on Wednesday, telling her followers that her TikTok account had been banned.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4UK police to use AI facial recognition tech linked to Israel’s war on Gazalist 2 of 4UK, France, Canada among 11 countries condemning Israel’s UNRWA demolitionslist 3 of 4Even in death, Palestinians are still denied dignitylist 4 of 4Israel’s top court delays Gaza press access ruling amid years-long banend of list“TikTok deleted my account. I had 1.4 million followers there, and I have been building that platform for four years,” Owda said in the video filmed from Gaza.“I expected that it will be restricted, like every time, not banned forever,” she added.Al Jazeera sent a query to TikTok inquiring about Owda’s account and is waiting for a reply.Hours after Owda shared her video, an account that appeared to have the same username was still visible on TikTok with a message that said: “Posts that some may find uncomfortable are unavailable.”The last post visible on that account was from September 20, 2025, nearly three weeks before a ceasefire was reached in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.In her video on Wednesday, Owda pointed to recent remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Adam Presser, the new CEO of TikTok’s US arm, as a possible explanation for the ban.Netanyahu met with pro-Israel influencers in New York in September last year, telling them that he hoped the “purchase” of TikTok “goes through”.“We have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefield in which we engage, and the most important ones are social media,” Netanyahu, who is a war crimes suspect, said at the time.