JAKARTA - Palestinian activists argue Facebook and other social media platforms have censored criticism of Israel in response to government pressure. They even launched a campaign seeking to stop the activity.
Palestinians complain that their political posts are removed or taken down primarily by Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook owns.
Digital rights organization 7amleh launched a website called 7or on Monday to draw attention to its position, saying it has documented 746 rights violations in 2021 so far.
"We see it as a war on the Palestinian narrative, as an attempt to silence those talking about their oppression and suffering," said 7amleh founder Nadim Nashif.
Facebook responded to a request for comment by referring to the work of its independent Supervisory Board. The board asked in September to moderate Arabic and Hebrew content for review due to potential bias. The company said it would implement the recommendations from that review.
During the war last May, between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz urged Facebook executives to be more proactive in removing content from "extremist elements seeking to undermine our country."
Internal Facebook documents seen by Reuters show staff members expressed concern over the demotion by Palestinian activist and writer Mohammed El-Kurd.
El-Kurd said views from his Instagram posts, where he has 744,000 followers, declined dramatically during Palestinian protests in May in Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighborhood where Palestinians risk losing their homes to Jewish settlers.
"I have long suspected this unfounded silencing of my account. The Israeli government is clearly threatened by Palestinian voices," El-Kurd said.
Social media user Tala Ghannam said her posts had been removed from Facebook and Instagram for violating community guidelines, especially those tagged "#SaveSheikhJarrah" to support Palestinian families at risk of being evicted.
"I felt at the time that I had no right to freedom of opinion and expression," Ghannam said.
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