‘Unequivocally False’: Meta refutes Palestinian news restriction

GAZA: The BBC alleged that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has been restricting the flow of news from Palestinian outlets since October of last year.

“Unequivocally false,” was Meta’s response to the allegations the BBC released on Wednesday. The British outlets claims that an analysis of Facebook data shows that the audience engagement of Palestinian outlets began to drop near the end of last year. Additionally, leaked documents show that Instagram increased its moderation of comments from Palestinian users during the same time period.

The 77 per cent drop in engagement is perplexing considering that during a period of war, especially one that has been the centre of discussion for the past year, one would appropriately expect viewership to rise. And such is the case when looking at Israeli outlets, which according to an analysis carried out by the BBC, saw a 37 per cent rise in engagement. Similarly, Arabic language outlets outside of Palestine saw a nearly 100 per cent rise in engagement.

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“Within a week of the Hamas attack, the code was changed essentially making it more aggressive towards Palestinian people.”

– Anonymous source in regards to changes made to Instagram’s algorithm

The BBC also outlined their findings from leaked internal documents shared by an anonymous source, which claimed that Instagram’s algorithm was changed to increase moderation of Palestinian’s comments on the social media platform.

Meta highlighted their “temporary product and policy measures” they put in place following the Hamas attack in October of 2023. The trillion-dollar multinational technology conglomerate stated that there had to balance freedom of speech with their own policies that designated Hamas as a dangerous organisation. In regards to Instagram, Meta stated that measures were taken to combat a “spike in hateful content,” but that these polices had now been reversed.

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– Courtesy of the BBC