Meta faces controversy: moderation or censorship of Palestinian media ?

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Social media algorithms are absolutely not neutral in the dissemination of information; they are even pillars of media visibility of global conflicts. We saw this last October with X, where disinformation flooded the news feeds. #8217;news concerning the clashes between Israel and Palestine.

This time, it is the Meta group that is being singled out by the BBC in an investigation published yesterday. The Palestinian media find themselves in the shadows and their visibility is plummeting. On the other hand, the Israeli and Arabic-language media are seeing their audiences grow. So is Meta trying to combat disinformation or is it muzzling journalistic freedom of expression??

Palestinians deprived of their narrative

BBC News Arabic's analysis of engagement data from twenty major Palestinian media outletsleaves little room for doubt. “Paradoxically, while one might expect increased audience engagement during times of war, the data reveals a dramatic 77% drop in social media engagement for Palestine TV following the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 ” BBC News Arabic journalists note.

Palestine TV, despite its 5.8 million subscribers, saw a 60% drop in the number of people reached by its posts. ” Our publications were completely invisible, cut off from any public ,” says Tariq Ziad, a journalist with the channel.

On the other hand, the Facebook pages of twenty Israeli newsrooms, including Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Channel 13, benefited from a 37% increase in audience. At the same time, the thirty non-Palestinian Arabic-language media outlets analyzed, such as Sky News Arabia and Al-Jazeera, saw their engagement double.

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Meta is taking on this new “moderation”

A former Meta employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed internal documents detailing a change to Instagram’s algorithm in the week following the Hamas attack. The change specifically tightened moderation of comments from Palestinian users. An engineer from the platform had also expressed his concerns about the introduction of a “new systemic bias against Palestinian users“.

Meta acknowledges having taken these measures, justifying them by the need to respond to what it calls a “spike in hateful content“from the Palestinian territories. The company says policy changes put in place at the start of the conflict have been reversed, but does not specify when normalcy will return.

The consequences of these restrictions are being felt on the ground. Omar el Qataa, one of the few photojournalists left in northern Gaza, is already seeing the effects on his work. ” A lot of information cannot be published because it is too shocking – for example, if the [Israeli] army commits a massacre and we film it, the video will not be released .” Despite these obstacles, he persists: “Despite the challenges, risks and content bans, we must continue to share Palestinian content.”

Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s increasingly difficult to pretend that Meta, or other dominant platforms, remain neutral in their handling of information. The company does play an active role in amplifying or erasing certain narratives. This isn’t a technical mishap or algorithm glitch—it’s a conscious, biased, and heavily politically charged intervention. The “fight against hateful content ” The group's claim here seems more like a smokescreen than a valid justification.

• A BBC investigation reveals that Meta has drastically reduced the visibility of Palestinian media after October 7, 2023.
• At the same time, the audience of Israeli and Arabic-language media has significantly increased on the group's platforms.
• Meta justified these changes by explaining that it was fighting against hateful content.

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