META’S ISRAEL POLICY CHIEF SOUGHT TO CENSOR PRO-PALESTINIAN INSTAGRAM POSTS

Tue 22 October 2024:

Meta’s Israel policy chief advocated for the censorship of Instagram accounts linked to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group that has played a key role in campus protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, The Intercept reported Monday.

Jordana Cutler, also a former senior Israeli official, used the company’s content escalation channels to flag at least four SJP posts and other content critical of Israel’s foreign policy for review.

While flagging SJP posts, Cutler repeatedly cited Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, which restricts users from openly discussing a secret list of thousands of blacklisted entities.

The Dangerous Organizations policy restricts the “glorification” of blacklisted entities but is intended to permit “social and political discourse” and “commentary.”

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It remains unclear whether Cutler’s efforts to leverage Meta’s internal censorship system were successful, as the company declined to disclose the outcome of the flagged posts.

While Cutler does not make final decisions on censorship, with another team handling moderation, experts told The Intercept that they are concerned about a senior employee representing a government’s interests pushing to restrict content that opposes those interests.

Meta did not directly respond to The Intercept’s questions about Cutler’s actions. Instead, company spokeswoman Dani Lever defended the platform’s review process, stating, “Who flags a particular piece of content for review is irrelevant because our policies govern what is and isn’t allowed on platform.” Meta also labeled the report “dangerous and irresponsible.”

-Source: AA

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