Palestinians have complained that political posts were
removed or demoted especially by Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook owns.
The 7amleh digital rights organisation launched a website
called 7or on Monday to call attention to its position, saying it has
documented 746 rights violations in 2021 so far.
"We see it as a war on the Palestinian narrative, as an
attempt to silence them speaking about their oppression and suffering,"
said 7amleh founder Nadim Nashif.
Facebook responded to a request for comment by referring to
the work of its independent Oversight Board. The board called in September for
moderation of Arabic and Hebrew content to be reviewed for potential bias. The
company said it would implement recommendations from that review.
During a May war between Israel and Palestinian militants in
Gaza, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz urged Facebook executives to be more
proactive in removing content from "extremists elements that are seeking
to do damage to our country."
Internal Facebook documents seen by Reuters showed that
staff members expressed concern over demotion of posts by Palestinian activist
and writer Mohammed El-Kurd.
El-Kurd said views of his posts on Instagram, where he has
744,000 followers, decreased dramatically during Palestinian protests in May in
Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighbourhood where Palestinians are at risk of
losing their homes to Jewish settlers.
"I have suspected this baseless silencing of my account
for a long time,” El-Kurd said. "The Israeli government is clearly
threatened by Palestinian voices."
Social media user Tala Ghannam said her posts have been
removed from Facebook and Instagram for violating community guidelines,
especially those tagged "#SaveSheikhJarrah" in support of Palestinian
families at risk of eviction.
"I felt at that moment that I don't have the right to
freedom of opinion and expression," Ghannam said. © Reuters
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