Elizabeth Warren is demanding more transparency from Meta on how its handling content about Palestine on Instagram – By Karissa Bell (Engadget) / Dec 14, 2023
The lawmaker wants details about how many posts Meta has taken down and how many appeals it’s received.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is the latest public figure to question how Meta is moderating content during the Israel-Hamas war. In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Warren raises several issues reported by Instagram users since October 7, and presses Meta for more information about its underlying policies and how much content the company has taken down related to the conflict.
In the letter, Warren cites reports from the media and human rights groups about inconsistencies in the company’s moderation practices since the start of the war. In particular, she notes that numerous Instagram users have accused the company of “shadowbanning” them for posting about the conditions in Gaza. She also references a third-party audit, commissioned by Meta and published last year, that found the company violated Palestinians’ right to free expression in 2021, the last time there was a major escalation in violence in the Gaza Strip.
“Reports of Meta’s suppression of Palestinian voices raise serious questions about Meta’s content moderation practices and anti-discrimination protections,” Warren writes. “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.”
