An independent review of social media giant Meta's practices during the May 2021 war between Palestinians and Israel has identified a number of missteps in the company's handling of Arabic and Hebrew content circulating online.
During the conflict, a large number of Palestinians complained that posts advocating human rights and an end to the violence were censored by the company.
Chiefly, independent consultancy firm Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), which conducted the investigation into Meta's practices, concluded that the company had "overenforced", or overmoderated, Palestinian content and "underenforced" Hebrew content, despite that material from both sides violated the network's community standards.
Miranda Sissons, Meta's director of human rights, said on Thursday: "BSR did raise important concerns around underenforcement of content, including inciting violence against Israelis and Jews on our platforms, and specific instances where they considered our policies and processes had an unintentional impact on Palestinian and Arab communities — primarily on their freedom of expression."
As a result, Meta said it launched a Hebrew machine-learning classifier that detects "hostile speech".
"We believe this will significantly improve our capacity to handle situations like this, where we see major spikes in violating content," Ms Sissons said.
Last year, Palestinians across the world raised red flags about how their content was being handled by Meta on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
An organisation called 7amleh (meaning campaign) was launched specifically to record instances where pro-Palestinian content was censored or deleted or when users posting this material were banned from Meta's platforms.
In a call with reporters, Meta also admitted that a human content reviewer blocked the Al Aqsa hashtag on Instagram in May last year because the employee had erroneously linked the mosque's name to "designated dangerous organisations" under US law, by which Meta abides.
"The error in May 2021 that temporarily restricted people's ability to see content on the Al Aqsa page" caused Meta to allow only "expert teams" to vet and approve keywords associated with designated dangerous organisations, the Meta response said.
Meta also said it was "assessing the feasibility" of improving the process of detecting violating Arabic content by dialect for review.
"This includes reviewing hiring more content reviewers with diverse dialect and language capabilities," Meta said.
BSR made 21 recommendations to Meta, of which it is implementing 10 and partially implementing four while assessing the feasibility of six and refusing to take action on one.
The recommendation Meta refused to implement was funding "public research into the optimal relationship between legally required counter-terrorism obligations and the policies and practices of social media platforms".
The suggested research would explore how "the concept of material support for terrorism should be interpreted in the context of social media and whether governments should establish different regulations or implementations for social media companies".
Meta said its legal advice related to "relevant sanctions authorities to understand the company's legal obligations."
TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
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Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
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- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
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In numbers
Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m
Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’ in Dubai is worth... $600m
China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn
The world’s most valuable start-up in 2018, TikTok, is valued at... $75bn
Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn
More coverage from the Future Forum
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Based: Dubai, UAE
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Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
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Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
