Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Three martyrs, injured in Israeli drone strike on phone charging station west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Four martyrs, dozens of injured as IOF open fire on civilians near GHF facility west of Rafah, southern Gaza.
Lebanese Army: This may push Army to freeze cooperation with committee regarding investigating facilities.
Lebanese Army: Enemy's continued violations of agreement and its refusal to respond with implementation committee weakens committee, Army's role.
Lebanese Army: A number of patrols also headed to locations under threat to investigate them, despite enemy's refusal of proposal.
Lebanese Army: As soon as enemy announced its threats, Army began coordination with ceasefire committee to stop attack.
Lebanese Army: Aggressions took place on eve of holidays, in clear atttempt by enemy to disrupt recovery of our nation and positive atmosphere.
Lebanese Army: Occupation's violations have turned into a daily aggression against Lebanese sovereignty, as it flouts ceasefire mechanism and efforts by implementation committee.
Lebanese Army: [Israeli] enemy has recently escalated its aggressions on Lebanon, targeting civilians, residential buildings, and facilities in different areas.
Berri: It is our fate every Eid al-Adha to offer sacrifices in defense of Lebanon and its sovereignty, and the aggression will not prevent us from celebrating our holidays

Meta fires engineer for fixing bug that bans Palestine content

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 5 Jun 2024 11:46
  • 10 Shares
4 Min Read

Palestinian-American Ferras Hamad files a lawsuit in a California state court for discrimination and wrongful termination as he accuses Meta of bias against Palestinians and their content.

Listen
  • x
  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. (AP)
    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, January 31, 2024. (AP)

Tech giant Meta has fired an engineer for trying to fix a bug causing the blocking of Instagram posts about Palestine, and the engineer has accused Meta of bias in its handling of content related to the war on Gaza.

Palestinian-American engineer Ferras Hamad, who has been employed at Meta since 2021, filed a lawsuit in a California state court for discrimination and wrongful termination, accusing the company of bias against Palestinians. He said the company even deleted internal employee communications mentioning the deaths of their relatives in Gaza and conducted investigations into their use of the Palestinian flag emoji.

The lawsuit further states that no similar investigations have been launched before for employees posting Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis in similar contexts.

Hamad notes that his dismissal was due to an incident in December regarding an emergency procedure to troubleshoot severe problems with the platforms, known within Meta as a SEV or "site event".

According to the complaints in the lawsuit, Hamad noticed irregularities in the SEV policies related to restricting content posted by Palestinian Instagram accounts, such as posts being prevented from appearing in searches and feeds.

Read next: Meta knew of child exploitation subscriptions, allowed them anyway

One instance cited in the complaint revealed that Hamad stumbled upon a short video posted by Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza which was mislabeled as adult content even though all it included was a destroyed building in Gaza. 

The engineer explained receiving mixed guidance from many employees about the status of the SEV, and if he had the authority to work on it as he did on many SEVs before, including ones related to "Israel", Gaza, and Ukraine. It was later confirmed in writing that the SEV was part of his job, per his manager. 

Hamad said Meta told him he was fired for violating a policy barring employees from working on issues with accounts of people they know personally, referring to Azaiza, to whom Hamad said he had no personal connection. 

A hefty track record

Back in December, Meta's independent oversight board rebuked the social media giant for removing posts depicting human suffering in the war on Gaza.

The board overturned two decisions, including the removal of an Instagram video exposing the aftermath of a strike near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza during the Israeli ground invasion. The video depicted injured or killed Palestinians, including children.

While several other videos of the sort were being discussed, oversight board co-chair Michael McConnell stated that these decisions were challenging. He claimed that the board is focused on protecting freedom of expression while preventing content that incites violence or hatred.

The board urged Meta to preserve removed posts that might serve as evidence of human rights violations.

Back in February, sources revealed to The Intercept that Meta was considering stricter rules for discussing so-called Israeli nationalism on its platforms.

Five civil society sources briefed on the potential change told The Intercept that according to an email sent by Meta policy personnel “Meta is currently revisiting its hate speech policy, specifically in relation to the term ‘Zionist.'’”

Dani Noble, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, expressed that the organization was "horrified" to hear that the term Zionist, which is a political ideology would be conflated with Jewish, which is an "ethno-religious identity."

Meta's internal guidelines regarding the word "Zionist," originally published by The Intercept in 2021, claimed that company moderators are only intended to remove postings containing the phrase if they are considered to be a proxy for "Jewish" or "Israeli," both of which are protected classes under corporate speech policies. Meta is now proposing a policy change that would allow the platform's moderators to more aggressively and expansively apply this restriction, perhaps increasing removals of posts critical of Israeli nationalism.

  • Ferras Hamad
  • Palestine
  • Israel
  • Gaza
  • Meta
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Lebanon's PM Nawaf Salam meets with US envoy Morgan Ortagus in Beirut on April 5, 2025 (Dalati Nohra via AP)AP)

Morgan Ortagus to exit US role in Lebanon amid policy shift

  • Politics
  • 1 Jun 2025
A Palestinian woman mourns as she embraces the body of her daughter Mayar Abu Odeh, 8, who was killed in an Israeli army strike on Gaza. at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)

French port workers block arms shipment to 'Israel' amid Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 4 Jun 2025
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)

Boston Consulting Group withdraws from GHF

  • Palestine
  • 3 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Poll
Palestine

Sharp decline in international perception of 'Israel', Netanyahu: Poll

Ukrainian soldiers with the anti-drone KVS G-6, manufactured by Kvertus Technology.Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Facebook
US & Canada

Shift in US priorities: Drone fuzes reallocated from Kiev to CENTCOM

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance
US & Canada

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance

Former US President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024 (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
US & Canada

Trump orders investigation into Biden’s autopen use, cognitive fitness

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS