Palestinians threatened with eviction from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem have taken to social media in protest. Since last week, there have been reports of some posts, photos and videos being deleted and accounts being blocked for violating community standards.
In a joint statement on Monday, more than 20 groups called on Facebook and Twitter to “Systematically silence users who protest” and urged them to implement “Transparent and consistent content moderation policies.”
Name the scale of content indents as “Flagrant and pronounced,” the signatories stated that they were indicative of a “Wider model of coherent censorship of Palestinian and allied voices” it was “Documented for years. “
According to Instagram and Twitter, the accounts were “Suspended by mistake by our automated systems. “ A Reuters report said both platforms apologized and claimed “The problem has been resolved and the content restored. “
In a statement on Friday, Instagram said that an automated update last week revealed content that had been redistributed by multiple users. “As missing”, who impacted “Tens of millions of stories”, including articles on Sheikh Jarrah and other troubled areas.
I wanted to provide a little more information on what happened here. We are sorry to all who have been affected by this. https://t.co/BFxyJfRbSRpic.twitter.com/3J9YGyRYdS
– Communications Instagram (@InstagramComms) May 7, 2021
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“We are so sorry that this has happened. Especially to those in Colombia, East Jerusalem and indigenous communities who felt that this was an intentional suppression of their voices and their stories – it was not our intention at all ”. said Instagram’s statement.
But on Monday, one of the declaration’s signatories, 7amleh, a Palestinian nonprofit digital rights group, said it had received more than 200 complaints about deleted posts and suspended accounts about Sheikh Jarrah. The group noted that reports were still coming in.
Its director, Nadim Nashif, said that despite the restoration of deleted content and accounts, the explanations offered by Instagram and Twitter were not. “Seems logical” and called him « bizarre » for companies to equate what is happening in Jerusalem with other problems elsewhere.
“We have failed to achieve a transparent and clear content moderation system. The key word here is transparency and equality, because that is not happening on the Israeli side ”. Nashif told the Arab News website.
Another signatory, digital rights group Access Now, claimed the “The problem has not been solved” and stated that it is no longer acceptable for platforms to use “System problems” as an excuse.
Noting that the episode showed why using algorithms as content moderators was a “Terrible idea” Marwa Fatafta, the group’s policy adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters that tech companies should be “Transparent on the systems they use” and “Ensure that they do not infringe on the rights of individuals in such a discriminatory and arbitrary manner. “
Neither Facebook nor Twitter have yet released follow-up statements.
Instagram has previously courted controversy over Palestinian issues, including deleting a post last July by model Bella Hadid showing her father’s US passport with his birthplace listed as Palestine – for violation “Community guidelines on harassment or bullying. “
“Aren’t we allowed to be Palestinians on Instagram? To me, that’s bullying. You can’t erase history by silencing people. It does not work like that, “ Hadid said at the time.
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