Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood
claimed by Jewish settlers have taken to social media to protest as they face
eviction, but some found their posts, photos or videos removed or their
accounts blocked starting last week.
It came as a long-running legal case over evictions from
homes in Sheikh Jarrah has fuelled tensions in Jerusalem where hundreds of
Palestinians clashed with Israeli police on Monday.
By Monday, 7amleh, a nonprofit focused on social media, had
received more than 200 complaints about deleted posts and suspended accounts
related to Sheikh Jarrah.
"On Instagram, it was mostly content takedown, even
archives from older stories were deleted. On Twitter, most cases were an
account suspension," said Mona Shtaya, an advocacy advisor at 7amleh.
Instagram and Twitter said the accounts were "suspended
in error by our automated systems" and the issue had been resolved and
content reinstated.
Instagram said in a statement that an automated update last
week caused content re-shared by multiple users to appear as missing, affecting
posts on Sheikh Jarrah, Colombia, and U.S. and Canadian indigenous communities.
"We are so sorry this happened. Especially to those in
Colombia, East Jerusalem, and Indigenous communities who felt this was an
intentional suppression of their voices and their stories - that was not our
intent whatsoever," Instagram said.
Calls for clarity
But in a joint statement, 7amleh, Access Now, and other
digital rights groups called on Twitter and Instagram to use "transparent
and coherent moderation policies"and be more open when take-downs happen.
Marwa Fatafta, Middle East and North Africa policy advisor
for Access Now, said Twitter and Instagram users saw continued restrictions on
content over the weekend.
"The issue was not resolved. We're demanding clarity on
this censorship, and system glitches are no longer accepted as an excuse,"
she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.
One of those affected was Hind Khoudary, a 25-year-old
Palestinian journalist based in Turkey, who noticed last Thursday that some
posts about Sheikh Jarrah from her Instagram archives were not loading.
"I restarted my phone and my Wi-Fi, but it was all
still missing and Instagram was very slow," Khoudary said.
Some of her posts had been restored by Friday afternoon but
some, dating as far back as April and even as recently as Saturday, were still
missing according to screenshots from her phone that she shared with the
Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Some affected users received messages about "violating
community standards" from Instagram.
Shtaya said 7amleh was still fielding complaints about
disappeared content.
"It's supposed to be done, but we are still receiving
reports," she said.
Data rights groups said the technical glitch had revealed
the risks of using an automated algorithm to try to weed out violent or
otherwise inappropriate posts.
"Moderation is on the rise, and it's really a blunt
object," said Jillian York, director for international freedom of
expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"The companies don't pay enough attention to cultural
contexts like Palestine where there's basically less profit, so they put a lot
more effort into making content moderation and automation effective in larger
markets," she said.
She said as a result, content that doesn't violate
Instagram, Facebook or Twitter standards can get swept away by automated tools.
Fatafta said the deletion of posts about Sheikh Jarrah
showed why using algorithms to moderate content was "a terrible
idea".
"It stresses the need for tech companies to be
transparent about the systems they use, and ensure they do not infringe on people's
rights in such a discriminatory and arbitrary manner," she said.
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