Meta Sued for Suppressing Pro-Palestinian Posts on Instagram

Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer, has filed a lawsuit against Meta, asserting he was dismissed for addressing bugs that suppressed posts about Palestine and Gaza.

In his complaint, Hamad accuses Meta of demonstrating a consistent bias against Palestinians.

He alleges that the company deleted internal communications mentioning the deaths of relatives in Gaza and investigated employees for using the Palestinian flag emoji.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has been under scrutiny for its handling of pro-Palestinian content.

Earlier this year, nearly 200 Meta employees raised similar concerns in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives.

In December, Human Rights Watch published a report alleging Meta systematically censored pro-Palestine voices.

Hamad, in his lawsuit filed in a California state court, recounts an instance where a video shared by Gaza-based photojournalist Motaz Azaiza was misclassified as pornography, despite depicting a destroyed building in Gaza.

Hamad believes he was terminated for pointing out irregularities that prevented posts from Palestinian Instagram users from appearing in searches and feeds.

Hamad said Meta told him he was fired for violating a policy that bars employees from working on accounts of people they know personally, referring to Azaiza.

Hamad maintains he had no personal connection to Azaiza.

Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments on Hamad’s allegations.