Fired For Fixing Palestinian Content Sensor Bugs, Ferras Hamad Sues Meta

JAKARTA - A former Meta engineer, Ferras Hamad, sued the company on charges of unfairly dismissing him. Hamad accused Meta of being biased in dealing with war-related content in Gaza. The lawsuit was filed in a California state court on Tuesday, June 4.

Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who previously worked at Meta, filed a lawsuit against the company on charges of discrimination and misinterconnection. Hamad claims that Meta fired him out of trying to fix bugs that caused Palestinian content suppression.

Hamad's lawsuit states that Meta is biased against Palestinian content, even removing employee internal communications about relatives who died in Gaza. In addition, Meta also conducted an investigation into the use of Palestinian flag emojis by employees, an investigation that was not applied to those using the "Israel" or Ukrainian flag emoji.

The incident that led to Hamad's sacking took place in December, which involved emergency procedures to address serious issues on the company's platform, known on Meta as a SEV or "site event." Hamad found irregularities in the SEV policy affecting Palestinian Instagram accounts, with posts restricted in search and feed.

One example mentioned in the lawsuit is a short video by Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza, who was misclassified as pornographic content despite showing buildings destroyed in Gaza.

Hamad explained that he received conflicting guidance from his colleagues regarding the authority to handle the SEV. Despite working on a similar SEV related to "Israel", Gaza, and Ukraine, Meta told him he was fired for violating policies prohibiting employees from working on accounts of people they know personally. Hamad stated that he had no personal relationship with Azaiza.

Hamad's lawsuit adds to a list of criticisms of Meta content moderation practices, raising questions about the company's bias and commitment to impartiality in dealing with politically sensitive topics.