Human Rights Watch (HRW) has leveled accusations against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for allegedly censoring content supporting Palestinian causes.
According to a report from the New York-based organization, this suppression has been particularly noticeable since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
The report claims that Meta has been actively silencing pro-Palestinian voices and posts related to Palestinian human rights on its social media platforms, especially during periods of heightened tension.
Deborah Brown, from HRW’s technology and human rights division, criticized these actions as exacerbating the challenges faced by Palestinians, who are already dealing with severe repression and atrocities.
Earlier, Meta’s own oversight board had criticized the company for removing posts depicting human suffering in the conflict. This conflict intensified when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in significant civilian casualties and abductions, as reported by AFP based on Israeli data.
The subsequent Israeli military response in Gaza has reportedly led to a large number of fatalities, predominantly among women and children, according to Hamas.
HRW highlighted what it described as “systemic online censorship,” reporting over 1,050 instances of content removal or suppression on Instagram and Facebook from across 60 countries during a two-month period. The suppressed content mostly included posts about Palestinian rights and human rights abuses.
The report emphasizes that while this might be the most extensive suppression related to Palestine so far, Meta has a history of similar actions. Even after HRW completed its analysis, hundreds more cases of alleged censorship were reported, pushing the total number of cases well beyond 1,050.
In its review of these cases, HRW found that nearly all involved peaceful pro-Palestinian content being unduly censored, with only one case involving content supporting Israel.
The forms of censorship included post removals, account suspensions, feature restrictions, and reduced visibility of user content. HRW also reported that its posts calling for evidence of online censorship were restricted, with users unable to interact with them due to being flagged as ‘spam’.
HRW urged Meta to allow more freedom of expression on its platforms, particularly concerning human rights issues and political movements.