Uncensored Press: Breaching the Algorithm.
Social platforms flag war photos as sensitive and hide them. Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria had them recreated on a typewriter, out of letters, numbers and symbols, so the images could be shared without being removed.
- Brand
- Al Joumhouria
- Agency
- TBWA\RAAD
- Market
- Lebanon
- Region
- MENA
- Year
- 2024
The challenge
Journalists covering the region's conflicts found their images restricted by automated moderation. The entry cites Human Rights Watch's count of more than 1,050 removals or restrictions of Palestinian-related content on Meta's platforms in October and November 2023.
The idea
TBWA\RAAD worked with typewriter artist Keira Rathbone, who recreated war scenes such as Explosion, Missile, Hero and Home entirely in typed characters. The images ran in Al Joumhouria, An-Nahar and Al Akhbar and on Instagram and Facebook, linked to a petition at uncensored-press.com asking platforms to stop flagging conflict images.
Results
- 500,000 views of the images in the first 10 days, according to the Dubai Lynx entry
- None of the typewritten images were censored, the entry says
Case study source: Dubai Lynx (Love The Work) Source ↗
Awards
- Dubai Lynx 2025Industry CraftGrand Prix
- Dubai Lynx 2025Media – Use of PrintGold
- Dubai Lynx 2025Industry CraftGrand Prix
- Dubai Lynx 2025Industry CraftGrand Prix
- Dubai Lynx 2025Industry CraftGrand Prix
Credits
- Creative agency
- TBWA\RAAD Dubai
- Media placement
- OMD Beirut
- Typewriter artist (production)
- Keira Rathbone
- Managing Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Joe Lahham
- Executive Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Santiago Cuesta
- Executive Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Frederico Roberto
- Senior Art Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Kaustubh Pachpute
- Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Sumanth Wilkins
- Associate Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Ayman Shehade
- Associate Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Alaa Hamdar
- Regional Group Account Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Diana Georges
- Executive Digital Director, TBWA\RAAD
- Rony Skaf
- PR & Communication, TBWA\RAAD
- Romy Abdelnour
- Motion Designer, TBWA\RAAD
- Preetam Kotian
- Motion Designer, TBWA\RAAD
- Geron Sorsogon
- Strategy, TBWA\RAAD
- Catherine Bannister
- Strategy, TBWA\RAAD
- Aneeta Aby
- PR & Communication, TBWA\RAAD
- Lea Moufarej
- Traffic, TBWA\RAAD
- Ezzat Habra
