Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad's Instagram account hacked
SHAH ALAM - Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad's Instagram account @byplestia has been hacked.
Plestia who has been reporting from war-torn Gaza shared on her stories that her account had been hacked, with a QR code asking for donations for Palestinian children, posted on her Instagram stories without her knowledge.
Her friend Yara also posted on Plestia's account on her behalf urging followers to not donate to the link or scan the QR code.
"Urgent! Plestia's account has been hacked. Do not engage or send any donations. We're trying to fix it. Plestia would never ask for donations this is so dangerous!!! "Zionist bots are trying to hack all of our accounts. Don't engage and share widely," Yara wrote in a post.
Yara captioned the post with: "This is by me Yara, Plestia's friend. The crowdfunding link is a scam. This is a scam! They are trying to hide the truth and slowly spread misinformation. All of our accounts are being targeted. You know who you follow so don't be fooled. For now just don't donate to anyone until we fix her account," Yara wrote.
Later, Plestia shared in a separate post that she could not view any of her own Instagram stories.
"The thing is I can't see any of my stories or anyone's stories and I am still trying to fix the problem." she wrote.
A quick look at her Instagram account this morning showed that her account has been fixed.
"This is so frustrating! - Update my account is fixed for now," she wrote.
Instagram user @elocin.lee commented "its happening to me too! Motaz also has the same issue, they are working overtime hacking amd censoring Palestinian content."
User @loucansin wrote "Plestia so many are with you. You are not alone."
Another social media user @shaneelall commented "Its so frustrating that you are one of the few people are going to for the truth, and you are being hit with this."
Several comments below also pointed out that they were having trouble accessing another Palestinian journalist's account Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza.
Motaz is Palestinian journalist and photographer working to show the world the horrors currently happening in the Gaza strip.
Israel has maintained a blockade of Gaza from air, land and water.
The Israeli forces also denied the charge that the blockade was illegal as it violated the Geneva Convention.
This blockade has made movement especially hard, for civilians and journalists reporting on ground zero. Not only was access to Gaza perilous, many journalists who were in Gaza covering the devastation have been killed.
More than five Palestinian journalists have been killed and a couple were still missing.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged all sides to not target journalists. It was in this context that the coverage Plestia was providing was so important.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the ongoing Israeli military strikes.
