7amleh along with a number of institutions working in the field of human and digital rights in the Arab region and globally, as well as a number of human rights activists and defenders, joined a petition calling on Meta to urgently disclose the results of the investigation into the content moderation policies for the Arabic language in Palestine

7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, along with a number of institutions working in the field of human and digital rights in the Arab region and globally, as well as a number of human rights activists and defenders, joined a petition calling on Meta to urgently disclose the results of the investigation into the content moderation policies for the Arabic language in Palestine, in addition to its call to release the results of an assessment of its impact on the human rights situation in India.

Meta has contracted BSR Network, an external evaluation body, to act on the previous recommendation from civil society and the Meta Oversight Board to conduct a comprehensive examination to determine whether the moderation of the company's content in Arabic and Hebrew, including the use of automation, has been applied without bias. The company had promised to release the report “in the first quarter of 2022”, but has still not done so.

The petition additionally, referred to the company's failure to announce the results of the human rights impact assessment in India, alleging "security concerns", as this might highlight the company's evasion of its responsibilities in other regions around the world under the same pretext. Accordingly, many concerns have arisen about the company’s handling of this matter, as the results justify civil society’s concerns of the human rights team’s evasion of responsibility and justification of its behavior, turning a blind eye to discrepancies instead of its contribution to providing a path that supports human rights work. Such findings serve to neutralize human rights defenders who try and seek to engage with decision-makers who can implement, enforce, and engineer rights-respecting policies. The organizations are concerned about the results of the independent review of Palestinian content management policies, which is supposed to be announced soon.

Mona Shtaya, the Advocacy Advisor at 7amleh, expressed the dissatisfaction of the Palestinians in general, due to the company’s delay in publishing the results of the investigation into the policies of content management, which had been postponed twice in the past, and indicated that the attacks on Palestinian digital rights, and Palestinian content in particular, is still ongoing, meaning the delay in disclosing these results affects the rights of Palestinians in general, especially in light of the perpetual escalation of attacks against Palestinians on the ground. The undersigned organizations and individuals expressed their solidarity with civil society and human rights defenders in India, and their dissatisfaction with the irresponsible handling of Meta with human rights issues, such as its delay in announcing the results of the independent review of content management policies in Palestine. Accordingly, Meta should adhere to its responsibilities, and comply with international law, human rights and business management standards in dealing with similar issues, to ensure access to a safe, fair and free digital space.