Mother of Slain Marine Kareem Nikoui: Facebook Blacklisted My Instagram Account **UPDATE: Account Restored**

 

By ALLUM BOKHARI

Shana Chappell, mother of U.S. marine Kareem Nikoui, 20, who was killed in the recent Kabul attack, says Facebook disabled her Instagram account after she posted a picture and message about her son.

Update: after Breitbart News reached out for comment, Instagram restored Chappell’s account. A company spokeswoman said her post did not violate any policies and was not removed, but that her account was removed in error.

“We express our deepest condolences to Ms. Chappell and her family,” said the Instagram spokeswoman. “Her tribute to her heroic son does not violate any of our policies. While the post was not removed, her account was incorrectly deleted and we have since restored it.”

In a post on Facebook, Chappell said the Facebook-owned platform Instagram began flagging posts on her account from months ago after she posted about her son.

Kareem Nikoui

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for the 8th annual Breakthrough Prize awards ceremony at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California on November 3, 2019. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

“As soon as I posted about what happened to my son Instagram started pulling up my posts from months ago and sending me notifications that if I kept posting stuff like this that they would disable my account,” said Chappell. “Posts from months ago!”

Her post on Facebook is also censored, with a message informing users that “this content isn’t available right now.”

The New York Times described Chappell’s post in an article before it was reportedly deleted by Instagram. The post featured a picture of Nikoui at Kabul Airport, the scene of last week’s deadly attack.

Via the New York Times:

 “On Friday, Kareem Nikoui’s mother, Shana Chappell, posted a photo on her Instagram account of her son with a broad smile, cradling his rifle amid the crowds of civilians and razor wire at the gate of the airport in Kabul. “This is the last picture my son sent me of himself. It was taken on Sunday. I know i am still in shock right now. I felt my soul leave my body as i was screaming that it can’t be true! No mother, no parent should ever have to hear that their child is gone,” she wrote in the post.”

Attempting to follow the link in the Times article leads to a message from Instagram saying the page associated with the post may have been removed.