Meta silences Palestinian voices & their supporters according to Human Rights Watch Report

• Meta’s content moderation policies on Instagram and Facebook face scrutiny for suppressing voices advocating for Palestinian rights amid the horrific events unfolding in Gaza.
• Human Rights Watch’s report documents over a thousand cases of censorship, highlighting flaws in Meta’s policies, inconsistent enforcement, government influence, and reliance on automated tools, raising concerns about freedom of expression.

In October, we highlighted the censorship of numerous pro-Palestinian accounts. Since then, Meta’s approach to content ‘moderation’ on Instagram and Facebook has faced scrutiny for its impact on voices advocating for Palestinian rights. The observed increase in censorship, as documented by Human Rights Watch, encompasses 1,050 takedowns instances and suppression of peaceful content that supports the Palestinian cause between October and November 2023. Out of the 1,050 cases examined in this report, 1,049 pertained to peaceful content advocating for Palestine that faced censorship or unwarranted suppression, with only one case involving the removal of content supporting Israel. The number of cases received by Human Rights Watch far surpassed 1,050.

This systematic censorship, witnessed across more than 60 countries of predominately English speaking countries. This raises questions about the consistent application of Meta’s policies, especially in the context of content related to the genocide currently occurring in Palestine. The report highlights identified issues such as policy flaws, inconsistent enforcement, external influences, and a heavy reliance on automated tools, all contributing to the pervasive suppression. Despite prior assurances from Meta to address similar concerns, the report highlights the failure to uphold freedom of expression.

Moreover, in more than 300 instances recorded by Human Rights Watch, users reported being unable to appeal account restrictions to the platform, leaving them without the means to report potential violations and lacking access to an effective remedy.

The instances of censorship outlined in this report echo concerns previously raised by human and digital rights organizations. For instance, in 2021, during the planned takeovers of Palestinian homes by Israeli authorities in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, protests, violence, and censorship of pro-Palestine content on Facebook and Instagram occurred. A 2021 report from Human Rights Watch documented Facebook’s censorship of discussions on rights issues related to Israel and Palestine, issuing a warning that Meta was  “silencing many people arbitrarily and without explanation, replicating online some of the same power imbalances and rights abuses that we see on the ground.”

The Human Rights Watch Report entitled ‘Meta’s broken promises’, concludes:

Based on recommendations from the Oversight Board, the BSR report, and engagement with civil society over the years, Meta made several commitments to addressing concerns around Palestine-related censorship. However, Meta’s practices during the hostilities that erupted in October 2023 show that the company has not delivered on the promises it made two years ago. As this report demonstrates, the problem has grown only more acute.

Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), companies have a responsibility to avoid infringing on human rights, identify and address the human rights impacts of their operations, and provide meaningful access to a remedy to those whose rights they abused. For social media companies, including Meta, this responsibility includes aligning their content moderation policies and practices with international human rights standards, ensuring that decisions to take down content are transparent and not overly broad or biased, and enforcing their policies consistently.

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Meta should also take urgent steps to work with civil society to set targets for the implementation of its outstanding commitments to address overreach in its content suppression of Palestine-related content.

The full Human Rights Watch Report can be accessed here