Bella Hadid Fires Back at Instagram for Removing Post About Her Father's Birthplace

Bella Hadid encouraged Instagram users to post where their parents were born after the platform removed a photo of her father's passport.

By Samantha Schnurr Jul 08, 2020 3:45 PMTags
Watch: Bella Hadid Accuses IG of "Bullying" For Removing Post

Bella Hadid has a bone to pick with Instagram. 

On Tuesday, the supermodel took issue with the platform after she was notified that her Instagram Story had been removed because it violated guidelines on "harassment or bullying." "we have these guidelines because we want our community to feel respected and safe," the notice issued to her said. The removed story post was a photo of her father Mohamed Hadid's United States passport, which listed his place of birth as Palestine as well as his birthdate. 

"Instagram removed my story that only said 'My baba and his birthplace of Palestine' with a photograph of his American passport," Hadid explained on her Instagram story. "@instagram exactly what part of me being proud of my fathers birth place of Palestine is 'bullying, harassment, graphic, or sexual nudity?'"

She continued, "Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram? This, to me, is bullying...You can't erase history by silencing people. It doesn't work like that."

In a follow-up post, the catwalk pro shared another photo of her dad's passport with the passport number blurred out. "Do you want him to change his birthplace for you?" she asked. 

The 23-year-old star declared, "I am proud to be Palestinian." She also urged fans to "post where their mother and fathers were born today! Remind them how proud you are of where you come from !!!"

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Bella Hadid's Riskiest Looks

Content is not removed based on people's nationality or ethnicity nor was Hadid's content removed because of its reference to Palestine, according to a Facebook company spokesperson. 

Pierre Suu/GC Images

"To protect the privacy of our community, we don't allow people to post personal information, such as passport numbers, on Instagram," a Facebook company spokesperson said in a statement to E! News. However, the spokesperson acknowledged the post was wrongly removed.

"In this case the passport number was blurred out, so this content shouldn't have been removed," the spokesperson said. "We've restored the content and apologize to Bella for the mistake."