Uncovering Meta’s Gaza censorship
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Current and former Meta employees blow the whistle on the company’s mishandling of pro-Palestinian content and retaliation against staff members who speak out. An AJ+ documentary uncovers internal struggles, with testimonies of routine deletion of Palestine-related posts and a deep-seated pro-Israel bias. How do these policies shape public perception of the Gaza conflict?
In this episode:
- Dena Takruri (@Dena), AJ+ Senior Presenter
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Sonia Bhagat, Amy Walters, and Sarí el-Khalili with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Duha Mosaad, Cole van Miltenburg, Hagir Saleh, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Sarí el-Khalili.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari, Vienna Maglio and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:11.6 | Today, blowing the whistle on Facebook and Instagram when it comes to Palestine. |
| 0:18.3 | I think my conscience doesn't allow me to sleep without trying to do something about it. |
| 0:22.6 | How alleged censorship at parent company META might be shaping our perception of the war in Gaza. |
| 0:29.6 | I'm Malika Bilal and this is the take. |
| 0:45.6 | Meta is today's modern-day town square. And it is clear that Meta is censoring Palestine. |
| 0:51.4 | Saima Akhtar is a former Meta employee. |
| 0:54.5 | She was there for three years before being fired earlier this year. |
| 0:58.9 | She talked to us outside of META's New York offices, where she's helping organize a demonstration. |
| 1:04.8 | Meta retains far too much unchecked power in controlling public perception by deciding what is and isn't allowed to be shared with |
| 1:14.0 | the rest of the world and deciding who is and isn't allowed a platform to speak to the world. |
| 1:20.4 | Seymu says she herself experienced this censorship, especially in the months following October 7th. |
| 1:27.4 | Anytime she or her colleagues posted about Palestine on internal platforms, the posts were deleted. |
| 1:34.5 | I had a colleague who, upon hearing that one of our colleagues lost nine more members of his |
| 1:41.2 | family in Gaza and offered condolences to him in our Muslim ERG employee resource group and the post was taken down. |
| 1:51.0 | When I posted about having watermelon cupcakes at the Muslim booth at our community fair, the post was taken down and I was told I cannot have watermelon cupcakes because it represents Palestine. |
| 2:06.6 | Saima says when she posted news articles about public concerns about the censorship of Palestine on Facebook and Instagram, those posts were also deleted. |
| 2:16.9 | I couldn't sleep while I was working there. |
| 2:19.3 | I just, it was just sleepless nights where I felt the weight and the burden of what Meadow was doing on our platforms. |
| 2:30.3 | So in December I helped write a letter that was addressed to meta leaders. |
| 2:38.0 | The letter, circulated and signed by 450 employees in a single day, called on leadership to address employee concerns, including allegations of censorship and an unsafe environment for Palestinian employees. |
| 2:53.2 | I responded by deactivating my system access, putting me under investigation for two months, |
... |
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