Meta responds to independent review of Hebrew and Palestinian content moderation

The social media giant will fully implement 10 of 21 recommendations

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian permanent observer to the UN, addresses a Security Council meeting in New York. Reuters

Palestinians search through the rubble of a building in which Khaled Mansour, a top Islamic Jihad militant, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday, in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip. AP

Mohammad Arada removes a tricycle from the rubble of his home after it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike, in the Rafah refugee camp. AP

Women mourn during the funeral of four teenage Palestinian cousins in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

People march during a rally in support of Gaza Strip residents at the Grand Central Terminal in New York. EPA

Palestinians celebrate on a street in Gaza city after a ceasefire was announced. Reuters

Palestinians burn tyres near the Huwwara checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, during a protest against Israel's air strikes in Gaza. EPA

Children cry during the funeral of Tamim Hijazi in Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip. The Gaza resident was killed in an Israeli air strike. AP

Smoke billows from a building struck during an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel bombarded Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip for a third day, with 31 Palestinians killed. AFP

Palestinians inspect a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the Gaza Strip. EPA

A Palestinian rocket is fired from Gaza City toward Israel as Israel bombarded Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip for a third day. AFP

The Palestinian Civil Defence evacuate a wounded man following an explosion in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. AP

A Palestinian man in the rubble of his badly damaged home, which was struck by Israeli missiles in Gaza City. AFP

A Palestinian woman and her daughter survey the damage to their home, caused by the Israeli air strikes, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

Palestinians search the rubble of a building in which Khaled Mansour, a chief Islamic Jihad militant, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. AP

An Israeli Iron Dome air defence system launches a missile to intercept rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. AFP

The friend of a young Palestinian killed during the night in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, is overcome at his funeral in the same camp. AFP

The body of Palestinian Muhammad Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli air strike, is prepared for his funeral at a hospital in Rafah. AP

An Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter fires flares in the sky above the Israel-Gaza border. Reuters

A Palestinian boy looks out of a car damaged amid Israel-Gaza fighting, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

Israeli police keep watch while Jews visit the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem on Sunday. Reuters

Palestinians search a destroyed building in which leading Islamic Jihad militant Khaled Mansour was killed by an Israeli air strike in Rafah. AP

Israeli extreme-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir, centre, speaks to the media as he makes his way to the Al Aqsa complex in East Jerusalem. EPA

Israelis rest in a bomb shelter after rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Palestinian officials say at least 32 people in Gaza have died in latest surge of violence. AP

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group fires rockets from Gaza City. Israel's military has said it 'neutralised' the group's leadership group in the enclave, where at least 32 people, including six children, have been killed in three days of Israeli strikes. EPA

Palestinian medics take an injured man to hospital. AFP

Palestinians carry an injured girl to hospital following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

Palestinians search for casualties in the rubble of a residential building in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

A salvo of rockets is fired from Gaza City towards Israel. AFP

Palestinians gather at a hospital in Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

An independent review of social media giant Meta's practices during the May 2021 war between Palestinians and Israel has identified a number of missteps in the company's handling of Arabic and Hebrew content circulating online.

During the conflict, a large number of Palestinians complained that posts advocating human rights and an end to the violence were censored by the company.

Chiefly, independent consultancy firm Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), which conducted the investigation into Meta's practices, concluded that the company had "overenforced", or overmoderated, Palestinian content and "underenforced" Hebrew content, despite that material from both sides violated the network's community standards.

Miranda Sissons, Meta's director of human rights, said on Thursday: "BSR did raise important concerns around underenforcement of content, including inciting violence against Israelis and Jews on our platforms, and specific instances where they considered our policies and processes had an unintentional impact on Palestinian and Arab communities — primarily on their freedom of expression."

As a result, Meta said it launched a Hebrew machine-learning classifier that detects "hostile speech".

"We believe this will significantly improve our capacity to handle situations like this, where we see major spikes in violating content," Ms Sissons said.

Last year, Palestinians across the world raised red flags about how their content was being handled by Meta on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

An organisation called 7amleh (meaning campaign) was launched specifically to record instances where pro-Palestinian content was censored or deleted or when users posting this material were banned from Meta's platforms.

In a call with reporters, Meta also admitted that a human content reviewer blocked the Al Aqsa hashtag on Instagram in May last year because the employee had erroneously linked the mosque's name to "designated dangerous organisations" under US law, by which Meta abides.

"The error in May 2021 that temporarily restricted people's ability to see content on the Al Aqsa page" caused Meta to allow only "expert teams" to vet and approve keywords associated with designated dangerous organisations, the Meta response said.

Meta also said it was "assessing the feasibility" of improving the process of detecting violating Arabic content by dialect for review.

"This includes reviewing hiring more content reviewers with diverse dialect and language capabilities," Meta said.

BSR made 21 recommendations to Meta, of which it is implementing 10 and partially implementing four while assessing the feasibility of six and refusing to take action on one.

The recommendation Meta refused to implement was funding "public research into the optimal relationship between legally required counter-terrorism obligations and the policies and practices of social media platforms".

The suggested research would explore how "the concept of material support for terrorism should be interpreted in the context of social media and whether governments should establish different regulations or implementations for social media companies".

Meta said its legal advice related to "relevant sanctions authorities to understand the company's legal obligations."