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Twitter and Facebook accused of censoring Palestinian content

May 10, 2021 at 12:39 pm

Logos of Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter [Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency]

The media office of the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip has criticised social media platforms for “censoring Palestinian content” during the current escalation in Jerusalem. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were mentioned specifically.

These platforms, it is alleged, are responsible for deleting Palestinian content and banning dozens of pro-Palestine accounts due to their coverage of events in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the unrest in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

The office stressed that these measures are evidence of the complicity of these social media platforms with the Israeli authorities and their double standards. They divert the public gaze from the violations of the Israeli occupation while restricting pro-Palestinian content under the pretext that it breaches publishing standards.

Such measures by these major platforms constitute a “violation of freedom of opinion and expression,” it is claimed. The Palestinian government in Gaza called on the aforementioned platforms to end their “anti-Palestinian position” and reactivate all accounts that have been banned.

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