SNA (Tokyo) — Social media giant Meta has been called out by US Senator Elizabeth Warren for censoring pro-Palestinian messages on Instagram, treating one side in the ongoing conflict entirely differently from the other in terms of its moderation policies.

“Over ninety human rights and civil society organizations have raised alarm about Meta’s reported suppression, filtering, and mistranslation of Palestine-related content over the past two months,” Senator Warren stated in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed on December 13. “Amidst the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, a humanitarian catastrophe including the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza, and the killing of dozens of journalists, it is more important than ever that social media platforms do not censor truthful and legitimate content, particularly as people around the world turn to online communities to share and find information about developments in the region.”

Warren specified that “news organizations have reported several instances of Instagram censoring or mistranslating Palestinian and Palestine-related content following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks. Instagram reportedly labeled the Palestinian flag emoji as ‘potentially offensive,’ causing comments containing the emoji to be hidden from view.”

She continued: “Meta reportedly manipulated its content filters to apply stricter standards to content generated in Palestine compared to the standards in place in the rest of the region and the world. Meta generally hides comments designated as hateful only when its content moderation systems are 80% certain that they violate the platform’s policies… however, Meta lowered the bar further for Palestine only, hiding comments from users in the occupied Palestinian territories if its automated system judged there was at least a 25% chance they violated Meta’s rules. Unsurprisingly given these changes, Instagram users have reported numerous instances of account suspensions and content suppression linked to communications regarding Palestine.”

In the conclusion to her open letter, Warren stated: “Reports of Meta’s suppression of Palestinian voices raise serious questions about Meta’s content moderation practices and anti-discrimination protections. Social media users deserve to know when and why their accounts and posts are restricted, particularly on the largest platforms where vital information-sharing occurs. Users also deserve protection against discrimination based on their national origin, religion, and other protected characteristics.”

Become a Shingetsu News supporter on Patreon and receive the “Japan and the World” newsletter by email each Monday morning.