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Facebook apologises to PA after restricting Palestinian content

May 18, 2021 at 11:28 am

A computer screen displaying the ‘Facebook” icon on December 22, 2020 [Esra Hacioğlu/Anadolu Agencyy]

The Palestinian Mission to the UK said on Facebook that it had “received a letter of intent from Facebook to resolve serious issues” relating to the silencing of Palestinian voices by the social media platform.

The mission had submitted an official complaint to the social media giant, which also owns messaging up WhatsApp and photo-sharing software Instagram, saying: “Too many Palestinian voices have been silenced unfairly. Too much room for incitement has been given to Israelis and supporters of Israelis.”

“We must not censor the truth,” the mission said in its Facebook post, adding that “the State of #Palestine looks forward to working with you [Facebook] to resolve this issue.”

“We appreciate your willingness to act. We need urgency.”

READ: Digital rights group slams Israeli attempt to censor Palestinians on social media

In its letter to the mission, Facebook said it will look into campaigns to incite violence against the Palestinians in Israel. It acknowledged its mistake in dealing with Palestinian social media users, deleting posts, and closing accounts for using words such as Al-Aqsa. The letter confirmed the company’s intention to correct these errors.

The PA ambassador said that he is ready to work with Facebook to put a framework for the Palestinian issue as a liberation project, not an issue of incitement and defamation.