KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Meta’s Instagram has taken down the account used to promote a charity football match scheduled for this Saturday in Shah Alam.
The match, organised by Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna and her team, aims to raise funds for the Karisma Humanitarian Outreach Mission (KHOM), which is working to send food parcels to families in Gaza.
Yuna shared her frustration on her official Instagram account yesterday, saying that it was one of the many challenges faced by the organisers ahead of the event.
“The Freedom Football team and I got together to prepare for our little friendly football fundraiser to send food aid to Palestine this weekend, and they (Meta) disabled our @freedomfootballkl Instagram account after we posted some announcements for our participants,” she wrote in a post.
“We only have 100 followers, but I cannot say that I am surprised. I will not be surprised if my followers cannot see this post. We have had a lot of challenges putting together this small event.”
Despite this setback, Yuna expressed her determination to see the charity fundraiser to its kick-off, saying, “we will not give up”.
“All the proceeds from this day will go to Karisma Humanitarian Outreach Mission (KHOM) to help them on their next mission to send food packs to families in Gaza,” she added.
“To those who signed up for Freedom Football, our team members will email you the info. I wish it was as simple as sharing a post. So keep an eye out for our email.”
She also added that she had sent an appeal to Instagram over its decision to block the account, but had yet to hear from the company at the time of writing.
Meta has faced scrutiny over its moderation policies concerning the Israel-Gaza conflict, with accusations of bias and inconsistent enforcement impacting public discourse and drawing international criticism.
More recently, Meta drew ire from Malaysian authorities after removing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s posts on Facebook and Instagram condemning the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Meta has since reinstated Anwar’s posts and apologized for what it described as an “operational error.” The reinstated posts now include a note stating that they violate Meta’s community guidelines but are left there for “public awareness.”
