Meta Must End The Systematic Censorship Of Palestinian Content Globally

The revelations published by DropSite News confirm what we, at 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, have long warned: that Israeli authorities are orchestrating a mass censorship campaign in direct coordination with Meta to silence pro-Palestinian voices across the world. According to internal data from Meta leaked by whistleblowers, Meta has complied with 94% of take-down requests issued by the Israeli government since October 7, 2023, resulting in over 90,000 immediate content removals and tens of millions of additional posts suppressed or actioned via automated systems. According to the leaks, these takedown requests overwhelmingly targeted users from Arab and Muslim-majority nations, however, users from over 60 countries have reported censorship of content related to Palestine, highlighting the extensive international reach of Israel’s censorship efforts and Meta’s compliance creating the largest mass censorship operation in modern history.

The leaked data also revealed that the take-down requests from the Israeli government received an exception, allowing AI to review and act on Israeli requests, rather than the standard practice where human moderators oversee government requests. The actioned content also fed into Meta’s automated enforcement systems, affecting similar content and allowing the machine to instantly remove further content without human review. AI-based content moderation is much less accurate than human content moderation, and it results in an aggressive approach often discriminatory in nature. These revelations demonstrate a systemic suppression of Palestinian content, rooted not in community safety, but in political repression and deliberate narrative erasure. This is not content moderation, it is mass censorship on a global scale.

This coordinated suppression campaign unfolded during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where Palestinians are facing unprecedented levels of violence, displacement, and destruction. At a time when Palestinians needed the digital space most to document war crimes, communicate under siege, and mobilize solidarity, Meta instead amplified the reach of Israeli censorship. Posts critical of Israeli policy or showing solidarity with Palestinians were flagged, removed, or hidden at an alarming rate, while violent incitement and genocidal rhetoric in Hebrew by Israeli politicians and officials went largely unchecked. Meta’s platforms did not just fail to protect Palestinians—they became complicit in silencing them, reinforcing Israeli narratives while undermining global awareness of atrocities on the ground.

We renew our urgent calls for transparency and accountability. Meta must immediately disclose the number and nature of takedown requests it receives from the Israeli government. This demand is not new. The 2022 BSR report commissioned by Meta explicitly called on Meta to: "Continue plans to disclose the number of formal reports received from government entities about content that is not illegal, but which potentially violates Meta content policies." Yet three years later, we are still demanding basic transparency. The time for internal reviews and vague statements is over. Meta must implement full disclosure of governments’ takedown requests, both legal and voluntary, restore wrongfully censored content, and end its role in enabling the digital repression of the Palestinian people. Content moderation is essential to maintaining safe digital spaces for all users, but it must never become a tool of political repression. Meta’s record over the past decade of discriminatory enforcement against Palestinians shows a systemic failure to apply its policies fairly, transparently, and without bias.