NEW YORK: Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Meta on Thursday of restricting pro-Palestinian content on Facebook and Instagram, criticizing “systemic online censorship” since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
The New York-based group said in a report released Thursday that Meta’s policies and practices have been silencing voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Facebook and Instagram in a wave of increased censorship of social media.
Acting Associate Director of HRW’s Technology and Human Rights Division Deborah Brown said that Meta’s censorship of content in support of Palestine adds insult to injury at a time of unspeakable repression and atrocities already stifling Palestinians’ expression.
On Tuesday, Meta’s independent oversight board had already decried the social media giant for removing posts that showed human suffering in the conflict.
Since October 7, Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least twenty thousand people, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas government.
HRW pointed to systemic online censorship, reporting over 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of content on Facebook and Instagram from more than 60 countries during October and November.
The content in question was shared by Palestinians and their supporters, including about human rights abuses.
The report added that while this appears to be the biggest wave of suppression of content about Palestine to date, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has a well-documented record of massive crackdowns on content related to Palestine.
It said that hundreds of people continued to report censorship after the HRW completed its analysis, meaning that the total number of cases the organisation received greatly exceeded 1,050.
Human Rights Watch reviewed cases
Of the 1,050 cases reviewed, 1,049 involved peaceful content in support of Palestine that was censored or otherwise unduly suppressed, while one case involved removal of content in support of Israel, according to HRW.
