BBC Arabic recently revealed that Facebook significantly restricted Palestinian news outlets' audience reach during the Israeli war on Gaza. In contrast, the analysis found that audience engagement with Israeli news outlets increased after October 7.
Meta’s Facebook Restricts Palestinian News Amid War
A BBC analysis of Facebook data revealed a sharp decline in audience engagement for newsrooms in Gaza and the West Bank since October 2023.
Leaked documents reviewed by the BBC also showed that Instagram, another Meta platform, increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, only a few foreign reporters have been allowed entry to Gaza. In their absence, social media has served as a vital platform to amplify voices from inside Gaza.
Despite this, Facebook pages for outlets like Palestine TV, Wafa news agency, and Palestinian Al-Watan News, primary news sources for millions worldwide, have seen a surprising drop in engagement.
BBC News Arabic analyzed engagement data from the Facebook pages of 20 leading Palestinian news organizations, comparing the year before the October 7 operation.
Typically, engagement is expected to increase during wartime. However, the data revealed a 77% decline after October 7. For example, Palestine TV, with 5.8 million followers, experienced a 60% drop in post visibility.
“Interaction was completely restricted, and our posts stopped reaching people,” said Tariq Ziad, a journalist at the channel.
BBC also investigated Facebook engagement data from 20 Israeli news outlets, including Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom, and Channel 13. These pages, which also shared war-related content, experienced a 37% rise in audience engagement.
BBC examined data from 30 prominent Arabic news sources outside Palestine, such as Sky News Arabia and Al Jazeera. Unlike Palestinian outlets, these pages saw an average engagement increase of nearly 100%.
Leaked Documents Reveal Instagram Algorithm Change After October 2023
Furthermore, the BBC interviewed five current and former Meta employees about the effects of the company's policies on Palestinian users.
One source, speaking anonymously to the BBC, shared leaked internal documents detailing a change to Instagram's algorithm that increased moderation of Palestinian comments on posts after October 7.
“The code was changed to make it more aggressive towards Palestinian users,” the source revealed.
Internal messages also showed an engineer expressing concerns, warning that the adjustment could be “introducing a new bias into the system against Palestinian users.”
Meta acknowledged implementing this measure, stating it was necessary to address a “spike in hateful content” originating from the Palestinian territories.
The company confirmed that it reversed the policy changes introduced at the start of the war but did not specify when the reversal occurred.
Meta’s Response to BBC’s Exclusive Investigation
The parent company Meta denied claims of deliberately suppressing specific voices.
In response to the BBC's findings, Meta acknowledged implementing “temporary product and policy measures” in October 2023.
The company cited the challenge of balancing freedom of speech with the classification of Hamas as a “US-sanctioned” and Meta-designated “dangerous organization.”
Meta added that pages focusing exclusively on war-related content were more likely to experience engagement fluctuations. “We acknowledge we make mistakes, but any implication that we deliberately suppress a particular voice is unequivocally false,” a spokesperson told BBC.
Meta’s Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content
Meta faced accusations from Palestinians and human rights organizations of failing to moderate online content fairly.
Critics argue that Meta’s policies and practices disproportionately silenced voices supporting Palestine and advocating for Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook, particularly amid the intensified censorship after October 7, 2023.
Between October and November 2023, Human Rights Watch documented over 1,050 examples of content takedowns or suppression on Instagram and Facebook. These included posts by Palestinians and supporters highlighting human rights abuses.
Of the reviewed cases, 1,049 involved the censorship or suppression of peaceful pro-Palestinian content, while only one case involved content supporting Israel. The censored posts originated from over 60 countries, primarily in English, and expressed peaceful support for Palestine in various ways.
Human Rights Watch noted that the total number of reported censorship cases far exceeded 1,050, as many reports continued to emerge even after the analysis concluded.
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