It has been reported that a group of Meta employees have raised concerns about the company's alleged censorship of support for Palestinians during the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A group of Meta employees has reportedly criticized the company for what they allege is both internal and external censorship of any expressions of support for Palestinians during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. As reported by Business Insider, in an open letter published this week, these employees have accused the company of censoring "any open support for our Palestinian colleagues or the millions facing a humanitarian crisis in Palestine" on company forums such as Workplace.
The letter, directed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company's leadership, criticizes the company's use of "Your voice is valued" as a cover for censoring dissenting opinions and silencing employees who seek support or raise awareness about building safer products.
The letter read, "We, Meta employees, wish to express our disappointment and astonishment at the lack of acknowledgment and care the leaders of this company have shown toward the Palestinian community and its allies. In private conversations, we hear from our Palestinian colleagues about family members they have lost in Gaza and family they are working tirelessly to find safety for. However, any open support for our Palestinian colleagues or the millions facing a humanitarian crisis in Palestine is met with internal censorship of employee concerns, biased leadership statements showing one-sided support, and external censorship that is raising public alarm and distrust of our platforms."
"Internally, we have called out the months of silencing within our workplace forums. While we loudly display “Your voice is valued”, CEE is used as a guise to delete dissenting opinions and silence employees that may simply be seeking solace from their coworkers or raising awareness about building safer products. While in other companies, employees within Employee Resource Groups (ERG) are allowed to connect and speak freely with each other, ERGs such as Muslims@ and Palestinians@ have faced so much censorship that an employee proposed just deleting the ERG altogether instead of giving the illusion that we can freely build community at Meta."
"CEE claims to reduce disruptions in our workplace, yet censorship from CEE has caused many of us at Meta to feel disrupted, unheard, and unsafe to the point that several of our Metamates have decided to resign. In the words of our former colleague, any mention of Palestine is taken down -Even when the post was from a colleague expressing their grief. Even when the post was to celebrate the UN International day of support to the Palestinian people. Even when the post is a link to a fundraiser to help the Gazans. Even when asking questions about product bugs that affect Palestinian voices," it read.
Meta leaders have made several robust statements expressing support for our Israeli colleagues and condemning the attack on Israel on October 7th, which resulted in the loss of approximately 1,200 civilian lives. These statements have been shared on both internal and external platforms. Mark Zuckerberg reiterated this stance on his public Facebook page.
“The terrorist attacks by Hamas are pure evil. There is never any justification for carrying out acts of terrorism against innocent people. The widespread suffering that has resulted is devastating. My focus remains on the safety of our employees and their families in Israel and the region.”
"While Meta denies any Palestinian censorship or bias to the public, internally groups of employee volunteers have found numerous product and policy issues with disparate impacts to Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab communities since October 7th. The few improvements that have been made were achieved only by appealing to isolated product teams, with minimal senior leadership support or resources. Furthermore, in the wake of global criticism of censorship and moderation, leading into the biggest year for democracy in history, Meta has updated its policy to no longer recommend ‘political content’ by default across Instagram and Threads without clear guidelines of how this would impact content originating from global conflict zones. Meta has continued to fail the Palestinian community through its policies and lack of investment."
"We demand an end to censorship - stop deleting employee’s words internally in order to foster an inclusive environment where all communities feel seen, heard, and safe. We demand acknowledgment - share internal acknowledgments of support for Palestinian colleagues and acknowledge the lives lost in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza to recognize our shared humanity," the letter read.