My name is Naor Narkis. I am an opposition political candidate in Israel, a member of the Democrats party, currently running an active campaign to change the government. I am reaching out to you after my Facebook and Instagram accounts were both blocked 48 hours ago. These are not minor accounts. Together, they generate over 25 million views per month, making them among the most influential political voices on social media in a country of just under 10 million people. The suspension came just hours after Amit Segal, one of Israel's most powerful television journalists and broadcasters, known to be close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, publicly attacked my freedom of speech in a series of posts on X. He was joined by several journalists from major Israeli media outlets, all targeting my political activity and my campaign to change the government. His posts preceded the suspension of my accounts by just a few hours. At the very moment my campaign was at the center of Israeli public debate, my accounts on Facebook and Instagram were suspended. As of this moment, I have no access whatsoever to my accounts. Despite reaching out to official Meta employees in Israel, the issue remains unresolved. This is precisely the kind of intervention we have read about in 'Careless People' by Sarah Wynn-Williams, the ways in which powerful social media platforms have been used across different countries to interfere in democratic processes and tilt the balance of power in favor of autocratic and anti-democratic forces. At this moment, I am experiencing what I can only describe as political interference and the weaponization of the world's largest social network against free speech happening here, in Israel. In the coming hours, I will be taking legal action against this interference in Israel's democratic process by Meta. I call on international press freedom organizations, journalists, and media outlets around the world to cover and investigate this case. What is happening here is not just an Israeli story, it is a warning for every democracy in the world.
