Ramallah – Zaytoun News
The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media released a new report titled “Erased and Suppressed: Palestinian Testimonies of Meta’s Censorship”. The report highlights direct testimonies from Palestinian influencers, journalists and media outlets who have faced Meta’s discriminatory practices.
The report exposed Meta’s approach to silencing Palestinian content and suppressing the Palestinian narrative, particularly during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The report featured 20 documented testimonies detailing Palestinian users’ experiences, including the deletion of posts, account suspensions and restricted audience reach. These policies have caused significant economic and professional losses, in addition to psychological, social, and political harms due to the repeated violations of Palestinian users’ digital rights.
The report comes amid escalating violence, killings, and destruction, alongside the targeting of Palestinian journalists — the only channel left to communicate the narrative and share information, especially as Gaza’s communication infrastructure is destroyed and international journalists are barred from entry.
In this context, Jalal Abukhater, the Advocacy Manager at 7amleh, stated: “The continued discriminatory practices by Meta against Palestinian content constitute a clear violation of international standards for freedom of expression. We call on Meta to take serious and urgent steps to reform its policies and ensure Palestinians’ right to use digital platforms without suppression or discrimination.”
7amleh said: “The evidence reveals that Meta enforces unjust policies against Palestinian content, deleting posts or restricting visibility under claims of policy violations while turning a blind eye to hate speech and incitement against Palestinians.” Notably, more than 15 million inciting posts in Hebrew against Palestinians were documented across social media platforms since October 2023, as recorded by 7amleh’s AI-powered language model, the Violence Indicator.
“Testimonies from journalists and influencers emphasized that these discriminatory policies not only silence Palestinian voices but also allow hate speech and incitement to flourish, said the report. This directly undermines freedom of expression, assembly, and political participation, while damaging opportunities for Palestine’s digital economy and exacerbating the psychological impact on those subjected to constant digital surveillance and suppression,” said 7amleh.
7amleh, in a press release, called on Meta and other major technology companies to take urgent and transparent steps to reform their policies, end digital discrimination against Palestinians and ensure safe and inclusive digital spaces for all.
The organization also urged adherence to international human rights standards to protect freedom of expression and prevent digital platforms from becoming tools of oppression, marginalization, and exclusion.
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