Facebook and Palestinians: Biased or neutral content moderation policies?

Author: 
7amleh Centre

This paper published by 7amleh Center focuses on Facebook’s discriminatory practices in moderation of Palestinian content against the background of the Israeli government’s heavy pressure on Facebook.

The policy paper begins with an analysis of Facebook’s content moderation guidelines and practices, in particular in areas in conflict or under occupation, and later focuses on Palestinian content. It continues to analyse the role and impact of public-private partnerships in the removal of content and blocking of pages and accounts and provides an overview over cooperation between the Israeli government and Facebook, which resulted in increased removal of Palestinian content, pages and accounts by Facebook.

This policy brief provides a thorough, yet concise, overview over content moderation by Facebook and its impact on freedom of expression, in particular of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. It thus highlights the role of Facebook and other social media companies in standing up for human rights of all their customers, rather than pleasing governmental actors and assisting in their attempts at stifling freedom of expression.

This policy brief comes as part of 7amleh’s ongoing efforts to research and publicise internet and social media companies policies towards Palestinians as part of 7amleh’s advocacy for Palestinian digital rights.

Read more on 7amleh's website.

7amleh-Arab Center for Social Media Advancement is a non-profit organisation aimed at enabling Palestinian and Arab civil society to effectively utilise the tools of digital advocacy through professional capacity building, defending digital rights and building influential digital media campaigns. It is a member of the APC network.
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