Big Tech's Censorship Exposes Double Standards on Palestinian Content Amid Gaza Conflict

Amidst the escalating violence in Gaza, an alarming pattern has emerged within the digital realm. Social media giants, labeled as Big Tech—companies like Meta (previously known as Facebook), X (Twitter's new moniker), and TikTok—are being accused of systematically censoring pro-Palestinian content, while allowing anti-Palestinian hate speech to perpetuate. These actions highlight an ongoing concern over Big Tech’s role in international human rights crises.

From October 7th, 2022, the surge in violence in Gaza saw numerous Palestinians take to social media to document the conflict and speak up against Israel’s aggressive actions. However, these digital platforms have not proved to be the free and open forums for discussion and expression that many had hoped for.

For instance, TikTok removed over 925,000 videos, X took action on 350,000 posts, and Meta removed or flagged 795,000 pieces of content in just three days following the commencement of attacks—an intensity of censorship arguably disproportionate and selective.

Journalists and activists on the ground in Gaza, including Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza and the Quds News Network, faced suspensions and shadowbanning. Accounts like that of the US branch of Palestine Action group experienced follower count anomalies indicative of suppression.

Contrast this with the latitude granted to Ukrainian voices during their conflict with Russia, where Meta altered policies to permit contents usually banned under its standard moderation practice, including calls to violence against Russian military personnel. No comparable concessions were made for Palestinians.

Moreover, there have been reports of Meta's algorithms, deemed insufficiently trained on Arabic content, erroneously silencing posts. In one notorious case, religious and culturally significant keywords were incorrectly linked to terrorist activities due to Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI) Policy.

Big Tech's inconsistent application of censorship reveals an implicit bias in content moderation policies. Insights from the 2021 Facebook papers revealed a 77 percent error rate in Arabic content deletion by Meta's automated systems for terrorist-related moderation.

The repercussions of such discrimination are profound—Palestinian narratives are stifled, resulting in an imbalanced representation of the crisis online. This has extended so far as to inhibit Palestinians from accessing humanitarian assistance akin to the aid provided to Ukrainians by these same platforms.

Social media's role in inflaming tensions cannot be overlooked either. Verified Israeli governmental accounts spreading war propaganda were allowed, while posts by Palestinians were removed. There were even cases where ads calling for violence against Palestinians were approved.

Transparency and accountability in Big Tech's moderation policies are now more crucial than ever with the stakes so high in Gaza. The risk that Meta and other tech giants could be complicit in human rights violations, just as with the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, underscores the gravity of the situation.