It has been revealed that Meta is censoring Palestine.

Since the beginning of Israel's attacks on Gaza, only a limited number of journalists have been allowed to enter Gaza from outside, and those who have entered have been permitted to conduct controlled filming under the escort of the Israeli army. For those seeking more news from Gaza, social media has filled this gap, while news organizations such as Palestine TV, Wafa news agency, and Palestinian Al Watan News have emerged as vital sources of information for many people around the world through their Facebook pages.

INTERACTION OF 20 PALESTINIAN-BASED NEWS ORGANIZATIONS EXAMINED

In this context, the BBC examined the interactions on the Facebook pages of 20 leading Palestinian-based news organizations in the year before and after the attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7. While a rise in mass engagement is expected during wartime, the analysis revealed a 77% decrease in interactions on the Facebook accounts of Palestinian media organizations after October 7, 2023.

ISRAELI NEWS ORGANIZATIONS' INTERACTIONS HAVE INCREASED

When examining the reasons for the decrease in interaction rates, the BBC found a completely opposite trend when looking at Israeli news organizations. The analysis of the Facebook pages of 20 Israeli news organizations, such as Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom, and Channel 13, showed that their interactions had increased by approximately 37%. The BBC also conducted the same analysis on the Facebook pages of 30 leading Arabic news sources, such as Sky News Arabia and Al Jazeera, where an increase of nearly 100% in interactions was observed.

OBJECTIONS TO ALLEGATIONS THAT META IS INTENTIONALLY SUPPRESSING CERTAIN VOICES

Meta, the owner of Facebook, states that allegations of intentionally suppressing certain voices are "absolutely false." Meta explained that it is struggling to balance the "freedom of expression rights" of this group because Hamas is defined as a dangerous organization under both U.S. and Meta's own policies. A spokesperson for Meta stated, "We acknowledge that we made mistakes, but any implication that we intentionally suppressed a certain voice is absolutely false."

META EMPLOYEES BELIEVE POLICIES HAVE BECOME MORE AGGRESSIVE TOWARDS PALESTINIANS

Five former and current employees of Meta evaluated the impact of the company's policies on Palestinian users, stating, "The code was changed within a week after the Hamas attack, and essentially the system became more aggressive towards Palestinians." It was also noted in internal messages that an engineer expressed concerns about the code change, fearing it could introduce a "new bias against Palestinian users."