Facebook removes Palestinian news agency page

Palestine

Published: 2018-03-26 12:13

Last Updated: 2024-04-15 23:18


Facebook implements discriminatory policies against Palestinians. (SadaSocialFBPage)
Facebook implements discriminatory policies against Palestinians. (SadaSocialFBPage)

The Facebook page of the Gaza-based Palestinian news agency “Safa news agency” was removed by the giant social media network on Saturday, for alleged incitement against Israel.

The page, which has more than 1.3 million followers, was closed along with several personal accounts that belonged to its moderators.

A few days earlier, Facebook removed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) page, claiming that they had violated Facebook’s user policy, according to a statement released by PFLP.

PFLP condemned the closure of their page, considering it a systematic policy against Palestinians to implement Israel’s demands in fighting Palestinian digital content on social media.

This comes as part of Facebook’s censorship policy against Palestinian digital content, which has noticeably increased during the past few months, especially following the killing of Ahmed Nasr Jarrar, who became an icon of resistance for Palestinians in February 2018.

According to Sada Social Centre, a Palestinian group launched by three journalists in 2017, more than 50 violations were committed by Facebook against social media activists in 2018 alone.


Read More: Who is behind Facebook censorship of Palestinians?


Also in 2017, Facebook committed 200 violations against Palestinians on the site, including the closing and blocking of several Palestinian pages and accounts, in addition to deleting photographs and posts.

On the other hand, a recently-released report by the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement, 7amleh, showed that 82% of the hate-speech against Palestinians is posted on Israeli Facebook pages. The report said that the number of Israeli right-wing groups which incite violence against Palestinians has sharply increased in 2017, recording around 445,000 incitement calls during that year.


 

Read More: #FBfightsPalestine: Palestinian campaign against Facebook censorship