Report accuses Meta of systematically suppressing Palestinian content

Meta’s content moderation practices have systematically restricted Palestinian voices on Facebook and Instagram, according to a report by Palestinian digital rights group 7amleh and a researcher at Utrecht University.

The Platformicide of Palestine 2021-2025 examined 3,520 cases submitted to 7amleh’s Palestinian Observatory for Digital Rights Violations from January 2021 to December 2025.

The cases included account suspensions, post removals, restrictions on livestreaming and reduced content distribution. The report uses the term “platformicide” to describe what it considers the structural erasure of Palestinian visibility and participation on social media.

While it does not conclude that Meta deliberately censored individual users, the report argues that the repeated restrictions cannot be explained solely as isolated technical or moderation errors.

Only 32.5% of the documented cases involved an identifiable policy violation. Among cases where a reason was provided, Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy accounted for 57.2% of restrictions, a figure that rose to 71.1% in cases involving journalists.

The policy is intended to prevent support for terrorist and violent organizations, but the report argues that it has been applied too broadly to journalists, media organizations, activists and civil society groups covering Palestine and Israel’s war on Gaza.

Account suspensions were the most common enforcement measure, affecting about one-third of the documented cases. The research also identified less visible restrictions, including reduced reach and recommendation filtering, which users commonly describe as “shadow banning.”

Nearly half of the 2,828 appeals submitted by 7amleh on behalf of affected users received no response from Meta, according to the report.

Meta has previously said it was working to improve the accuracy of Arabic-language moderation, route content to reviewers familiar with relevant Arabic dialects and provide users with clearer explanations of enforcement decisions.

The report calls on Meta to commission an independent human rights audit, reform its application of the Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy and strengthen protections for journalistic and public-interest content.