Facebook’s Supervisory and Oversight Board decided to refer the company’s complaint about bias against Palestinian content to an investigation, through an independent external committee, to look into whether decisions to modify or delete content, including automated decisions, treat pro-Palestinian content differently.
The Facebook Supervisory and Oversight Board issued its recommendation today, while it did not deny the existence of unofficial contacts with the Israeli government that may have affected the company's decisions to block Palestinian content from its pages.
He also issued a statement today, about a case in which a news publication was removed and was followed up by activists supporting the Palestinian right in the United States in coordination with the Muslim employee gathering within the company.
The Oversight Board is the top body within the company that monitors the content moderation practices of Facebook and Instagram.
This examination should review the treatment of Palestinian or pro-Palestinian content as well as content that incites violence against any potential targets, regardless of their nationality, race, religion, belief, or political opinions, the case’s decision stated, adding that the report’s findings should be public.
The ruling indicated that the censorship of Palestinian content raised public criticism, including accusations of the social network censoring Palestinian content disproportionately, compared to content that incites violence against Palestinians and our people within the 48 territories.
The Council called for an independent investigation to clarify these serious allegations.
It is noteworthy that during the past few months, supporters of the Palestinian right in the United States have carried out several demonstrations in front of Facebook company headquarters in American cities to protest the company’s bias against Palestinian content and its closing of dozens of pro-Palestine pages Treat Palestinian content fairly.