Meta engineer under fire for sharing anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian sentiments

Pavel Punksy, a Meta engineer based in San Francisco, is facing backlash after sharing an AI-generated image of a Palestinian Olympic team, depicting them as terrorists.

The image portrays them in military attire, implying Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian stereotypes which have dramatically increased following the current aggression on the Gaza Strip.

This is not the first controversial statement from Punksy, as his X account is riddled with similar posts and images, and have shifted towards mocking the suffering and deaths of the Lebanese people, after the “Israeli” military started conducting widespread airstrikes across the country since last week.

Punksy’s sentiment raises questions on Meta’s approach towards censoring content related to the Palestinian conflict.

Previously, Human Rights Watch (HRW) leveled accusations against Meta, the parent company overseeing Instagram and Facebook, asserting a systematic effort to censor content related to Palestine across their social media platforms

Outlined in a comprehensive 51-page report titled "Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook," HRW sheds light on a consistent trend of unjustified content removal and suppression of protected speech.

This includes peaceful expressions supporting Palestine and discussions surrounding Palestinian human rights.

HRW's report spotlighted Meta's censorship practices, deemed detrimental to the principles of free speech and hindering public discourse on Palestinian matters.

Deborah Brown, the acting associate technology and human rights director at HRW, underscored the importance of social media as a vital space for documenting and condemning human rights abuses.

She condemned Meta's censorship, asserting that it compounds the silencing of Palestinian voices and exacerbates the difficulties faced by Palestinians during a period marked by heightened atrocities and repression.