Meta faces allegations of discrimination and bias against Palestinians in a lawsuit filed by its former engineer, Ferras Hamad.
Hamad claimed he was fired for his handling of Palestine-related content, citing a pattern of bias against employees supporting Palestine.
Meta faces allegations of discrimination and bias against Palestinians in a lawsuit filed by its former engineer, Ferras Hamad. NOAH BERGER/AFP via Getty Images
Meta Faces Allegations of Discrimination, Bias
The former engineer of Meta has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming he was fired due to his handling of Palestine-related content.
Ferras Hamad, who worked with Meta's machine learning team, accused the company of discrimination, wrongful termination, and bias against Palestinians. According to Reuters, he alleged that Meta displayed a pattern of bias against employees supporting Palestine.
Hamad claimed to have noticed procedural irregularities in how Meta handled restrictions on content from Palestinian Instagram personalities, which limited their visibility in feeds and searches. He cited a specific incident involving a short video showing a damaged building in Gaza, which he said led to his dismissal in February.
Hamad found out that a video by Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza was wrongly labeled as inappropriate. He got mixed messages about whether he could fix it but was later told he could.
However, a month later, he was told he was being investigated. Hamad complained about internal discrimination but was fired a few days later. The reason given was a policy violation about dealing with accounts of people you know. Hamad, who is Palestinian-American, denied knowing Azaiza personally.
In his lawsuit, Hamad not only described why he was fired but also accused the company of deleting internal messages discussing family deaths in Gaza.
He noted that employees using the Palestinian flag emoji were investigated, while those who used the Israeli or Ukrainian flags in similar situations weren't treated the same way.
Meta faces accusations of suppressing pro-Palestine posts, predating the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Last year, Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns about Instagram users claiming they were "shadowbanned" for discussing Gaza.
Meta's Oversight Board determined that Instagram mistakenly removed a video depicting the aftermath of a strike on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Recently, the board launched a probe into Facebook posts containing the phrase "from the river to the sea."
Deborah Brown, acting associate director of technology and human rights at Human Rights Watch (HRW), criticized Meta's censorship of pro-Palestine content. She said it adds to the suffering of Palestinians, who are already facing unspeakable atrocities and repression.
Brown emphasized that social media is crucial for people to share their experiences and speak out against abuses, but Meta's censorship is worsening the erasure of Palestinian suffering. Meta removed many newsworthy posts depicting Palestinian suffering or death, citing its rules on violent, graphic, hateful, or sexually explicit content.
Al Jazeera also reported that it applied its policy targeting dangerous organizations or individuals to hundreds of other posts to prevent violent missions from being promoted. However, HRW accused Meta of misusing this policy to restrict legitimate speech about conflicts between Israel and Palestinian groups.
HRW also noted that Meta deleted or suspended accounts, limited engagement, or "shadow banned" users without informing them, further limiting the visibility of their posts.
