Basketball Ireland have stated that their Instagram account has been "permanently disabled" in the aftermath of the recent FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifier against Israel in Riga.
The build-up to the game saw significant media coverage, with calls for Basketball Ireland to boycott the fixture amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Eventually, the Ireland team refused to shake hands with their opponents ahead of the 87-57 defeat, after accusations of antisemitism from one of the Israel players, which Basketball Ireland wholeheartedly refuted.
Basketball Ireland statement
"Basketball Ireland lost access to its Instagram page on Sunday 11th February and on Wednesday 14th it was informed by META that it has been permanently disabled, via an automated message," begins the BI statement shared on their other social media channels.
"This is being appealed by Basketball Ireland, as there is no legitimate reason to do so by META. Basketball Ireland is a National Governing Body, only posting about basketball in Ireland. Our social media pages are there to showcase our international and domestic game, from elite to grassroots level.
Update on our loss of access to the official Basketball Ireland Instagram account.
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) February 17, 2024
"Basketball Ireland has been subject to added media and social media attention in the lead-up and the aftermath of the Ireland versus Israel FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifier, however nothing that has been posted on our social media channels during this time, before, or since, merits this decision by META. Basketball Ireland has raised this matter with Government and Sport Ireland.
"Basketball Ireland shall continue to showcase Irish basketball via our other social media channels - X, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn, while our new Instagram page can be found by searching @ireland.basketball
"Basketball Ireland will be making no further comment on the matter."
As of Saturday afternoon, users searching for the official Basketball Ireland page on Instagram are met with a message that says "Sorry, this page isn't available."
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