May 13, 2021 14:10:00

Instagram and Twitter claim to be 'discriminatory removal'

In Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, where fierce ethnic conflicts continue, Palestinian families are

required to evict by settlers. The friction that originated from this has evolved into a violent clash that has left more than 300 injured. More than 20 nonprofits have jointly issued a joint statement that the removal of Instagram and Twitter posts complaining about the issue was unfair discrimination.

Instagram, Twitter blame glitches for deleting Palestinian posts | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/israel-palestinians-socialmedia-idUSL8N2MU624

Twitter Said It Restricted Palestinian Writer's Account by Accident
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8b4x/twitter-said-it-restricted-palestinian-writers-account-by-accident

Many Palestinians have posted videos and photos on social media protesting the issue of Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jara district of Israel being required to evict by Jews who settled in the district. However, on Instagram and Twitter, there are many problems such as deleting such posts and blocking the poster's account.

by

Lior Bakalu

7amleh , a non-profit organization specializing in social media, has received more than 200 complaints that posts about the Sheikh Jarrah district have been deleted.

7amleh advocacy adviser Mona Shtaya told Reuters that 'Instagram has removed most of the content that mentions the recent Sheikh Jarrah district issue, as well as the archive of old articles. Also, my account was frozen on Twitter. '

Instagram said, 'I'm very sorry that something like this happened. Some people feel that their voices and stories have been deliberately suppressed, but they have no intention of doing so. It was. ' He explained that the automatic update in early May 2021 caused videos about indigenous communities in Jerusalem, Colombia, and North America to appear to have accidentally disappeared.

A Twitter spokeswoman told Motherboard, an IT news site, that 'forced measures were taken against the wrong account, which was later revoked.' Instagram and Twitter say the issue has already been resolved and deleted content is back.

However, the affected Palestinians are not convinced that it was a flaw in the program. Several nonprofits specializing in digital rights , such as 7amleh and Access Now , have jointly stated that they should adopt a transparent and consistent moderation policy and open it when content is deleted. We have issued a joint statement that we seek.

'System glitches are no longer an excuse,' said Marwa Fatafta, Policy Advisor for Middle East and North Africa in Access Now. We ask for a clear explanation of this censorship on both social media. I am. '

Hind Khoudary, a Palestinian journalist living in Turkey, told Reuters that 'around May 7, I noticed that the content of the Sheikh Jarrah district issue in my Instagram archive was not loaded. The next day. Some posts were restored in the afternoon, but posts around April and others are still gone. '

“Companies aren't paying enough attention to cultures that are less profitable to them, like Palestine,” said Jillian York, who is responsible for freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. , Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., content that does not violate the deletion criteria may be erased by automated tools. '