18 December
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| Palestinian journalists have been complaining that Meta has imposed a "shadow ban" on their online content |
Facebook is preventing Palestinian media reporting from effectively reaching viewers, listeners, and readers during the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Facebook officials have tight control over them. The British media outlet BBC discovered this during an inquiry.
However, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, stated that the claims of purposefully stifling some voices were "unquestionably false."
It demonstrates a decline in the amount of engagement between readers, viewers, and listeners and Palestinian newsrooms in Gaza and the West Bank from October 2023.
Instagram, another Meta-owned social media company, has banned comments on Palestine since October 2023, according to some leaked papers the BBC has seen.
After Israel's war in Gaza began, a small number of foreign journalists were permitted entry into the Gaza Strip. They were able to get in while the Israeli army was watching. Social media is crucial for anyone interested in hearing from Gazans.They now consider the Facebook pages of news organizations like Wafa News Agency, Palestine TV, and Al-Watan News to be crucial news sources. These media outlets are run from locations outside of the West Bank.
BBC News Arabic has confirmed that readers, listeners, and viewers are actively participating on the Facebook pages of 20 significant Palestinian media institutions. Participation prior to and following the October 7 start of the conflict in Gaza is analyzed and contrasted.
One important indicator of a social media account's influence and the volume of people viewing its material is engagement. Through commenting, answering, and sharing posts, viewers, listeners, and readers interact with these channels.
It is anticipated that audience participation will rise during times of war. However, reader engagement in Palestinian media has dropped by 77% since October 7, 2023.
On Facebook, Palestine TV has 5.8 million fans. The number of people who used to view their posts on Facebook has suddenly dropped by 60%, according to journalists attached to the television channel's office.
According to a journalist for this outlet named Tariq Ziyad, "Interaction is completely controlled and our posts have stopped reaching people."
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| Abcnews24hr.com |
The "shadow ban" that Meta has placed on (some of) Palestinian journalists' online content has been the subject of complaints. More specifically, meta controls the number of Facebook users who will view the content.
The BBC examined comparable data on the Facebook sites of 20 Israeli news outlets to confirm this assertion.Channel Thirteen, Israel Hayom, and Yediot Ahronoth are some of these media outlets. It was discovered that even though they posted a lot of content about the conflict on their pages, their readership, listenership, and visitation rose by over 37%.
Human rights organizations and Palestinian citizens have already lodged complaints against Meta. It claimed that the business was unable to control internet activity impartially.According to an independent investigation published by the corporation in 2021, the moderators' inability to speak Arabic is the real reason, not their deliberate actions. Due to their limited linguistic abilities, individuals see even seemingly innocuous words and phrases as hostile or offensive.
To determine the validity of the meta-language explanation, the BBC performed a similar research on the Facebook sites of 30 Arabic-language media sources in other countries. These media included Al-Jazeera and Sky News Arabia.Analysis revealed that, on average, reader interaction with authorities on these pages rose by over 100%.
The Meta Authority claimed they were not concealing anything when questioned about the BBC's study.
Meta adds that they struggle to strike a balance between freedom of expression and other rights. because, according to Meta's own policy, Hamas is a dangerous organization and the Palestinian independence movement is subject to U.S. sanctions.
According to the IT company, reader engagement is more likely to be impacted by Facebook pages that only discuss conflict.
We acknowledge we made a mistake," a spokeswoman stated. However, the suggestion that we intentionally silence some voices is categorically untrue.
Leaked documents related to Instagram
Five present and past Meta employees were interviewed by the BBC regarding the significance of reader involvement. They said that their business has rules pertaining to Palestinian users.
Leaked internal documents regarding Instagram's algorithm tweaks were revealed to the BBC by an individual speaking on condition of anonymity. It demonstrates how rigorously Palestinian comments on Instagram posts have been moderated.
Within a week of the Hamas attack (in Israel), the code of conduct was modified to be more hostile toward the Palestinian people," the source continued.
One developer analyzed the internal communications and voiced worry that they were routinely biased against Palestinian users.
Such action will be conducted, according to confirmation from Meta authorities. However, they assert that the action was required to counteract hate speech emanating from Palestinian territory.
According to Meta, the policy adjustments made at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict have now been undone. They did not, however, specify when this job was completed.
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