Daijiworld Media Network - Gaza
Gaza, Jan 30: Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has said she has regained access to her TikTok account a day after reporting that it had been banned from the popular video-sharing platform.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday, Owda said she believes international media attention and pressure from non-governmental organisations played a role in the restoration of her account. However, she noted that users must now type her full username to locate her profile on TikTok.
Owda also said TikTok informed her that many of her videos have been marked as “ineligible for recommendation,” limiting their visibility on the platform.
Al Jazeera confirmed on Friday that Owda’s TikTok account, which has over 1.4 million followers, is visible again, though no new videos have been posted since September 2025. The Gaza-based journalist gained international recognition for her daily video diaries from the besieged enclave during Israel’s war on Gaza, often opening her updates with the line, “It’s Bisan from Gaza – and I’m still alive.”
A contributor to Al Jazeera’s AJ+, Owda has received major international journalism honours, including Emmy, Peabody and Edward R Murrow awards, for her reporting.
Announcing the removal of her account earlier this week, Owda had pointed to remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is suspected of war crimes in Gaza, in which he said he hoped TikTok’s acquisition process would be completed, calling it “consequential.”
Despite a ceasefire, Israeli attacks on Gaza have continued, with three Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli strikes last week. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 207 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, the vast majority by Israeli forces.
Owda’s account removal also coincided with Israel’s Supreme Court once again postponing a decision on whether foreign journalists should be allowed to independently enter and report from Gaza without Israeli military supervision.
TikTok declined to comment on specific accounts when contacted by Al Jazeera. However, a company spokesperson told The New Arab that Owda’s account had been “temporarily restricted” in September over concerns of a possible impersonation risk.
Following further review, the spokesperson said, the account was reinstated and is now operating normally.
Last week, TikTok announced that a deal had been completed to establish a separate version of the platform in the United States, with control transferred to investment firms, many of them US-based and some linked to President Donald Trump.