Meta responds to ‘suppression of Palestinian posts’ on Facebook and Instagram
Thousands of activists on the Facebook and Instagram platforms have complained that their posts in support of Palestinians are being censored or deleted on the social media platforms.
The American newspaper “The New York Times” reported that thousands of users posted messages in support of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of whom have been displaced and thousands killed or injured due to Israeli airstrikes, only to find their posts hidden or deleted.
Other activists have also reported that their accounts were closed after calling for “peaceful protests across the United States” to support Gaza.
Artificial intelligence engineer Aya Omar, speaking to The New York Times, mentioned that she couldn’t see the Palestinian media accounts she regularly follows because Meta, the parent company of the two platforms, had banned her. She emphasized that this results in seeing the events in Gaza “from only one perspective.”
Meta defended itself, stating that some posts were hidden due to an “unintended mistake” in the company’s systems.
The company highlighted: “This error affected accounts worldwide and was unrelated to the content itself – it was fixed quickly.”
They also added: “At times, some posts may be temporarily blocked or hidden as the company takes action to address a large number of graphic content reports.”
