2023-12-24 11:42:57
Support for the Palestinians is censored “systemic” on Facebook and Instagram since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) published Thursday December 21. The American human rights organization judges that the Web giant Meta is coercing “increasingly silencing voices in favor of Palestine” on these two platforms, by removing them or making them invisible.
HRW examined more than a thousand incidents that occurred in October and November on posts « au peaceful content »from Internet users from sixty countries, including France, who expressed their support for the Palestinian cause or their dismay at the heavy price paid by civilians in the Israeli bombings carried out on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas attack from October 7 in Israel.
Thus, an Internet user received a warning after posting Palestinian flag emojis on Instagram; depending on moderation, this could “being hurtful to others”. Slogans calling for a “immediate ceasefire” or to the “Liberation of Palestine” have been “repeatedly deleted”. Well-known Palestinian activists have had their accounts suspended or deactivated.
Conversely, when Internet users reported comments – written in response to their initial posts – as “Turn Gaza into a parking lot” or ” I hope [qu’Israël] will erase Palestine from the face of the earth”, Instagram moderation judged that these comments “did not violate community guidelines.”
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Obstacles to freedom of expression
However, the battle rages on social networks, where supporters of Palestinians and Israelis seek to mobilize on a daily basis and share their indignation. But, according to HRW, Meta’s practices push Internet users in solidarity with the Palestinians to self-censor so as not to find themselves in the crosshairs of moderation. Some words – like “Palestine” – are deliberately distorted to avoid the wall of censorship. Palestinians, who feel they have little or no voice in Western media, rely on social media to make themselves heard.
This is not the first time that Human Rights Watch has made such an observation: in 2021, the organization published a first report documenting “Facebook censorship of human rights discussions related to Israel and Palestine”. Meta then committed to changing its moderation policies. But the company has not kept its promises, deplores HRW, according to which the restrictions have even been exacerbated. The NGO calls into question the predominant use of automatic moderation and “excessive influence of governments on content removals”.
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