HRW: Facebook censors Palestinian posts on Israeli human rights abuses

• Published date: 08 October 2021
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

HRW, the New York-based NGO, also claimed that Facebook's reliance on the United States' Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) list for designating organizations as "dangerous" is a threat to free expression as it prohibits Palestinian leaders from using Facebook. Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), both of which are on the FTOs list, are merely "political movements that also have armed wings," HRW said.

Instagram, owned by Facebook, removed several posts pertaining to Palestine, including reposts of mainstream news organizations, HRW said. Posts in support of the Palestinian cause, such as one urging Palestinians to "never concede their rights" and another showing a building before it was "struck down by Israeli missiles" were removed from the social networking application for containing "hate speech or symbols," according to HRW.

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In addition, HRW suggested wrongdoing in Facebook's handling of Israeli cyber units' reporting and flagging of violent content from Palestinians. HRW noted a State Attorney's Office report from 2018 which shows an 87% compliance rate for removal of hateful content on Facebook, which HRW states is extremely high for voluntary requests.

"Facebook provides a particularly critical platform where Israeli authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions," said HRW's Deborah Brown...