ِِA Palestinian campaign protesting against Facebook policy

Dozens of Palestinian platforms participated in a campaign to stop publishing via Facebook, in protest against restrictions on Palestinian content.

The call was launched from the Protection of Palestinian content on the Internet Initiative, with the participation of many Palestinian human rights and civil organizations, to stop publishing on Facebook for a limited time, in protest against the policies of social media administrations, and their participation in the increasing restrictions on Palestinian content.

The campaign was attended by 6 satellite channels, 10 local radio stations, 20 news agencies and networks, and 18 Palestinian institutions and initiatives, in addition to dozens of Palestinian platforms via Facebook, Arab pages, influencers, and media professionals.

The campaign to stop publishing was accompanied by a Twitter storm on the hashtag #FacebookCensorsPalestine to show the extent of Facebook’s bias and its fight against Palestinian content, and the hashtag was a trend on Twitter in Palestine, and the campaign demanded a complete cessation of posting on the Facebook platform from 5 pm on Saturday 09 January 2021.

Sada Social Center documented hundreds of violations by the Facebook administration, which blocked hundreds of accounts of prominent Palestinian activists and news and media platforms, in addition to many violations against the Palestinian content, including reducing the rate of access of publications to the public on social media sites, where the decrease reached 50%, In addition to closing accounts, blocking pages for varying periods, and freezing ad properties.

The center monitored more than 1,200 violations against the Palestinian content on social media, most of them were caused by Facebook, during the year 2020.

Sada Social Center confirmed that violations during the year 2020 increased numerically by 20% compared to the previous year, and also took new dimensions and patterns that showed clear targeting of Palestinian content on the Facebook platform.