Why I’m Not Boycotting Meta

people you’ll leave behind if you delete Instagram

I’ve been quite nervous about writing about this subject because I felt that I couldn’t articulate my thoughts very clearly. I also didn’t want this to seem like an attack on people who wrote about deleting all their social media—a huge, ongoing trend on Substack that always brings in hundreds to thousands of likes on notes.

A few months back, when I realized this repeated notion of “I deleted my Instagram, and I feel so free” started happening, I felt I couldn’t relate. This is funny because if this trend had happened years ago, I probably would have jumped right on that train since I didn’t use Instagram that much. Now, it’s a completely different story.

These past few years I have learned just how important social media can be. Obviously, I’m not negating all the horrible things that come with social media—there are quite a lot—but I mean in the sense of sharing information and being in community with others. 

I have learned so much these past two years regarding Palestine, Congo, Sudan, etc., from social media alone than if I had deleted those apps and got my news from mainstream outlets. If you didn’t have prior knowledge about it, where did you learn about the genocide in Palestine? Where would you have seen on-the-ground reporting if you didn’t watch Bisan, Plestia, Motaz, and other Palestinian journalists’ videos? The genocide and slavery going on in the Congo are rarely reported on any news sites; the attacks in Sudan are also never accurately reported outside of social media directly from Sudanese voices. There’s a reason for that (racism).

Because of mainstream news outlets and their censorship, a lot of information coming out of Palestine would have never been broadcast. Instagram and TikTok did that. Palestinians have told us multiple times at the beginning of the genocide that using our voices is one of the most important things to do to spread awareness. Sharing their voices, reposting videos, and creating our own posts/videos amplifying them, made (and still makes) a huge difference.

It’s not like I’m a huge account or anything on Instagram, my personal account has less than 600 followers. I share something every day about Palestine and other struggles and I have gotten a couple people tell me that they learn a lot from what I share. That’s all I want, honestly. If at least one person can learn something new from what I share, then I’ve done my part. On TikTok I’m a bit more involved because I have more followers (barely more but still); I’ve connected with multiple families from Palestine and I have shared GoFundMes to raise money for their evacuation funds, essentials they need, and other things.

Same on Instagram; I have shared many GFM fundraisers and even been in contact with a family from Palestine and created a GFM for them (please donate if you’re able). I wouldn’t be able to do this without social media.

Not that social media is the only way to create change; of course, being directly involved in the community and going to protests are also very important. I attended the encampment that happened at my university last summer and met a lot of amazing people. I learned so much as well from different activities and teach-ins. I went to many protests over the past year, and I definitely need to go to more.

So, yeah, when people started posting about “this is why I deleted Instagram” and “you should delete your Instagram!!!” on notes I wasn’t interested. (Again, no hate to these people who did delete Instagram.) I needed to keep sharing and amplifying other’s voices and creating connections with other people. For example, I’ve followed and met so many great people on BookTok.

The reason I am talking about this now is because of the recent calls to boycott meta apps because of Mark Zuckerberg’s new modifications to them. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the guy and I think the changes he’s making are absolutely gross and unproductive. One of my favourite book creators, Serareadthat, made a post with a lot of great points. She honestly inspired this piece because of it.

As she says, while it is frustrating to use apps created by asshole CEOs, it is also their goal to further divide and silence people. Some important direct quotes from her post:

“By censoring ourselves because we feel violated with how [these apps] tried to censor us, we are voluntarily leaving the ones who need our voices and listening ears, behind. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. At the end of the day, we will still be censored. Which is what they want. For us to stop talking. Sharing. Communicating.” Slide 2.

“Don’t use your privilege to disconnect and disassociate, your privilege to choose what you WANT to do over of what you HAVE to do, as an excuse to not stand your ground.” Slide 3.

She put into words what I have had trouble articulating from the beginning of this deleting social media trend on this app. I honestly wanted to write a post about it a while back, but never did because I was scared of sending the wrong message and being misconstrued. I hope you guys see what I am trying to say.

I also understand that a lot of these people (or the majority) are probably not using it to share resources or information about global conflicts and genocides. And I’m not saying you must keep your social media apps. If you do not use it or you need to delete it for other important reasons, then do it. Delete social media that may be affecting you negatively; this is just a post for people to keep in mind that deleting social media harms marginalized voices more than it does good.

If you don’t currently use your social media accounts to spread awareness, now is a good time to start! It’s never too late to share important messages or amplify voices. It doesn’t matter if you have 10k followers or 100 or anywhere in between; any amount is important to take action.

Hope this brought some insight to anyone who reads this <3