Did Instagram Block The Israeli Flag Emoji?

Image by Times of Israel

By Rachel X. Landes July 7, 2015

Image by Wiki Commons

Want to show your Israeli pride when commenting on your bestie’s Instagram photos of their birthright trip?

Well, now you can’t.

Image by Times of Israel

According to the , Instagram has blocked the Israeli flag emoji. Users who try to comment with it receive an error message that says, “Comment Blocked,” and underneath, “Sorry, these types of comments aren’t allowed. We restrict certain content and actions to protect our community. Tell us if you think we made a mistake.”

Other users have reported not even having the option to use the Israeli flag at all. Our friends at Buzzfeed were also unable to comment with the flag. Other flags, like that of Syria, presented no such obstacles.

UPDATE: Instagram has released the following statement:

“We discovered an unintentional technical bug affecting emoji including the Israeli and Finish [sic] flags. We have identified and fixed the issue. People should be able to post the affected emoji immediately.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO