Meta, Facebook, and Instagram's parent company censored and removed content documenting human rights abuses committed by "Israel" during the May 2021 Israeli aggression on Gaza, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

The human rights organization said Meta's social media platforms censoring content relating to human rights abuses, "particularly during periods of violence" is especially harmful to human rights.

Instagram and Facebook, which are owned by Meta, removed content documenting human rights abuses during May 2021 hostilities in Israel and Palestine.

Censoring content, particularly during periods of violence, harms human rights. pic.twitter.com/UmKffTkGTX

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) September 24, 2022

HRW found Meta culpable for censoring social media posts by Palestinian and pro-Palestinian users, citing an independent report into Meta's violations, which found that the company "overly restricted Arabic content" during the 2021 aggression on Gaza.

Palestinian users were deprived of their freedom of expression during the two-week war on Gaza by "Israel" last year, by having their content blocked on Facebook and penalizing Arabic-speaking users more heavily than those who spoke Hebrew, an independent report carried out by the consultancy Business for Social Responsibility (BSR).

Israeli occupation forces attacked the residents of the western neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Al-Quds in May of last year. Soon afterward, the IOF stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque and began aggressively bombing Gaza, leaving more than 200 Palestinians killed.

A few months afterward, the Israeli Supreme Court in occupied Al-Quds ruled to postpone the expulsion of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah from their homes due to concern over escalating tensions with the Palestinian resistance, during which the court suggested they remain tenants and that houses be owned by settlers but that was immediately rejected by Sami Arsheed,  the attorney of residents in Sheikh Jarrah. 

When Mona Al-Kurd, a Palestinian activist, tried live-streaming the ongoing events in the neighborhood trying to expose the Israeli crimes against Palestinian families, her streaming was cut off suddenly, leading Al-Kurd later to post on her Instagram story explaining that her live-streaming feature was blocked, which exposes Instagram’s complicity and censorship of Palestinian content.

Years of accounts from Palestinian journalists and activists that Facebook and Instagram appear to censor their posts were confirmed, more frequently than those of Hebrew speakers.

Human Rights Watch accused Meta last year of wrongfully removing and suppressing content by Palestinians and their supporters, including content regarding human rights abuses against Palestinians.

The firm regularly ordered moderators to stray from standard practice and handle diverse graphic material from the Russia-Ukraine war with a light touch this year, according to previously unreported policy language obtained by The Intercept.

Like other American internet businesses, Meta swiftly implemented a slew of new policy carveouts in response to the military operation, especially allowing Ukrainians to continue posting graphic photographs of the war on Facebook and Instagram.

No such exceptions were ever granted for Palestinian victims of Israeli state brutality, and the sources don't indicate that any other suffering group was given a similar level of latitude.

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