Makeup artist and style guru Sondos al-Qattan is facing backlash after delving into politics on her Instagram this month.

With 2.3 million followers on Instagram, a cosmetics line under her name and a series of brand endorsements, Kuwaiti makeup artist Sondos al-Qattan is one of the biggest social media stars to come out of the Middle East.

On July 10, however, a now-deleted Instagram video&nbsp;was met with outrage when the influencer attacked the&nbsp;newly introduced policies aimed at improving the lives of Filipino workers in Kuwait&mdash;referring, in particular, to the laws that now&nbsp;prevent&nbsp;employers from confiscating employee passports,&nbsp;and that grant Filipino household help, drivers, and caregivers one day off per week,&nbsp;

Similarly to that of other Gulf nations, Kuwait&rsquo;s immigrant structure&nbsp;requires every&nbsp;incoming laborer to be sponsored by a resident. Although the laborer would ultimately be held accountable for their own actions, it is up to the&nbsp;sponsor to assure&nbsp;the government that their employee will be a beneficial addition to Kuwaiti society. With even a financial deposit system in place (employers have to pay up to $4,900 per employee), this structure has raised questions of entitlement.

&quot;All I said was that the employer was entitled to keep the servant&#39;s passport,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.arabianbusiness.com/culture-society/401328-kuwait-social-media-star-defends-comments-on-filipino-workers-rights" target="_blank">emphasized al-Qattan</a> in defense of her comments,&nbsp;&ldquo;and many Kuwaitis and Gulf nationals agree with me.&quot; As for the days off: &quot;the servant lives in the house just like the owners, he eats the same food, he has a place to sleep, he can go out shopping... He&#39;s not like a waiter who works fixed hours and who should be given a weekly leave.&quot;

Despite the fact that al-Qattan&rsquo;s views may indeed be shared by many &mdash; too many &mdash; residents, the backlash was enough for several brands and fans&nbsp;to withdraw their support for the social media star.

This controversy comes in the wake of a deeper diplomatic crisis between the Philippines and Kuwait, wherein the widespread mistreatment of domestic laborers resulted in President Duterte temporarily banning OFW&#39;s (Overseas Filipino Workers) from traveling to the Gulf country. With over <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/21/kuwait/philippines-protect-filipino-migrant-workers" target="_blank">250,000 Filipinos </a>working in Kuwaiti households, it is clear that these policies affect both OFW&#39;s and Kuwaiti residents, like Sondos al-Qattan.

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Photos courtesy of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sondos_aq/?hl=en" target="_blank">@sondos_aq</a>

Social Media Star Contests The Protection of Workers' Rights In Kuwait

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Social Media Star Contests The Protection of Workers' Rights In Kuwait

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