In May 2023, Esaa Ahmed-Adnan, an Iraqi social media influencer who’s amassed more than 500,000 followers on Instagram with his videos about environmental issues, received a curious message from the platform. A sponsored post for a local restaurant he’d made had been taken down after being flagged for a copyright violation. Ahmed-Adnan, who knew to avoid doing things likely to inspire trouble, such as adding copyrighted music to his posts, was confused. This particular video consisted entirely of him touring the restaurant and trying various dishes.
Not long after, other videos started disappearing: A post he made promoting an area volunteer effort to clean up the Tigris River, which flows through Baghdad, was also flagged for a copyright violation. That video showed him talking directly to the camera while helping to pick up trash from the banks of the river and, again, featured no copyrighted music.
