(MENAFN- Palestine News Network )
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7amleh, along with 67 of local, regional and international partners has issued a joint statement regarding BSR's Human Rights Due Diligence report on Arabic and Hebrew content on Meta's platform. Human rights organizations and civil society have been calling for an independent review of Meta's content moderation policies as they pertain to Palestine for years, so we commend the publication of this report.
Last week, the Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) network released its Human Rights Due Diligence report regarding Arabic and Hebrew content on Meta's platform during May 2021.
BSR's report confirmed digital rights organizations' claims for years. The report provided evidence of Meta's bias against Palestinian content, through over-enforcement of Arabic content, and under-enforcement of content moderation policies on Hebrew language content. Furthermore, the report cites adverse human rights implications to Palestinians' right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom to political participation, and non-discrimination.
“The BSR report is the first step on a long-term journey to end digital discrimination against Palestinians. We are calling on Meta to comply with International human rights law as well as business and human rights principles to end this deliberate censorship against Palestinians.” 7amleh's advocacy advisor, Mona Shtaya said. BSR recommends a series of steps that align with what civil society has been calling on Meta to do for years. However, we call on Meta to provide a detailed timeline for how and when they will change their policies, and implement these recommendations.
The report clarified META's over-enforcement of their content moderation policies when dealing with Arabic language content, as compared to a pattern of under-enforcement of these same policies when working with Hebrew language content. These clear differences in the moderation of content based on language confirmed the company's bias against Palestinians created content. In response to these findings, a series of recommendations and steps are offered in the report. The most significant step being the call for Meta to re-evaluate its content moderation policies and work to address the clear bias that exists in their implementation with regard to Arabic versus Hebrew content.
This report represents the culmination of years of the work by 7amleh and other leading human rights organisations, to promote and protect Palestinian digital rights, and calls for an independent review of the content moderation policies of“Meta” platforms. Through such a review, Meta will be better able to address the bias across their platforms and address thier pattern of continuous and deliberate censorship of the Palestinians voices and narratives, as well as better protect and uphold the rights of those who are speaking out and working in solidarity with the Palestinian community.
We see this report as a first step on a long-term journey to end digital discrimination against Palestinians, and we hope that Meta will adhere to it in practice. It is essential that they provide a detailed timeline for how and when they will change their policies, and communicate clearly their plan to implement changes in order to end digital discrimination against Palestinians, and ensure access to a safe, fair, and free digital space.
After many years of pressure on Meta to address the bias across their platforms, this report offers recommendations to ensure that they take further steps in the right direction. At this critical time, we still need your support to escalate the pressure on the company and ensure that they will implement these recommendations. Therefore, you can support our work and contribute to the protection of Palestinian digital rights by pressing the button below.
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