Senators Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Bernard Sanders have publicly criticized Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the company's handling of Palestinian-related content on its platforms, Instagram and Facebook. The criticism stems from Meta's alleged secrecy and censorship practices, which the senators argue impact public debate and the understanding of Meta's policies on community content. Following a December letter from Warren, the lawmakers are demanding transparency regarding the criteria for content moderation. Meta has been accused of discriminating against Palestinian-related content, a claim supported by a Human Rights Watch report in December indicating over 1,000 instances of suppressed peaceful support for Palestinians. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the broader implications of Meta's content moderation policies, including the suppression of anti-trans hate speech.
“Meta insists that there’s been no discrimination against Palestinian-related content on their [Facebook and Instagram] platforms, but at the same time, is refusing to provide us with any evidence or data to support that claim." -- @SenWarren. https://t.co/62F7U7QyAa
Anti-trans hate is ‘widespread’ on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, report warns https://t.co/KzqaM3FVWW https://t.co/BoUMU1U4ja
The LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD issued a report Wednesday documenting dozens of anti-trans posts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Meta’s primary social media outlets, and calling on the company to better enforce its policies against such posts. https://t.co/3FbGvZccAU
GLAAD report says Meta allows anti-trans hate to ‘flourish’ on its platforms https://t.co/aBEjrLNBl9
.@Meta has made a decision that will have an incredible impact on the billions of people set to go to the polls this year. This summer, Meta will abandon its transparency tool CrowdTangle with no equal replacement. We’re calling on Meta to reconsider: https://t.co/C0LXnF28vV
The trans community remains dangerously vulnerable to hate and violence, and the continued proliferation of anti-trans hate online is a moral failure of our digital institutions. We must do more to protect trans lives. https://t.co/f1FU7bcm6t
The lawmakers mentioned that a report completed by Human Rights Watch in December revealed that Meta suppressed or removed over 1,000 expressions of peaceful support of Palestinians on Instagram and Facebook the two previous months. https://t.co/DUKM1utcUD
"When asked whether #Instagram deleted captions or suppressed the creation and use of new hashtags, #Meta declined to comment and sent us to a help page on deleted posts": https://t.co/fh6TpE7Mgd #ethics #socialmedia #contentmoderation #research #business
.@Meta insists there’s been no discrimination against Palestinian-related content on their platforms, but refuses to show information to support that claim. If its ad-hoc changes to content practices & removal of millions of posts wasn't discriminatory, then what’s Meta hiding? https://t.co/tNB8v0rA4H
“It is imperative that Meta provide this information so the American people and their elected representatives can understand the impact of Meta’s policies on those communities and public debate.” https://t.co/DUKM1utcUD
In a follow-up to a December letter sent by Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, the two lawmakers inquired about the policies the company uses to determine what information gets censored. https://t.co/DUKM1utcUD
Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders slam Meta for censoring Palestinian-related content https://t.co/MRzkBhUuUA https://t.co/SGjs7SQy9D
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernard Sanders on Tuesday criticized Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his secrecy surrounding the technology company's content moderation and censorship of Palestinian-related content on Instagram and Facebook. https://t.co/U3v8YhFhus