Meta Deletes Hamas Content Following EU Warning

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Meta has removed (or labeled as disturbing) over 795,000 pieces of content in Hebrew or Arabic that were related to the Hamas attack on Israel in the past three days after the EU criticized social media companies for failing to curb disinformation and harmful content on their platforms.

As reported by Reuters, the company also stated that it is temporarily broadening its violence and incitement policy and deleting content that clearly shows hostages taken by Hamas, regardless of the intention behind posting such content. Nevertheless, Meta said it would still allow content with blurred images of victims, but would still give priority to the safety and privacy of the hostages if there was any doubt or difficulty in judging the content.

Meta said it was aware of Hamas’ threats to broadcast footage of the hostages and it would quickly take down any such content and stop it from being re-shared. The company also said it was reducing the level at which its technology intervenes to prevent recommending content that might break its rules across its platforms.

According to Interesting Engineering, the European Commission has been pressuring social media platforms to remove illegal and harmful content in accordance with its Digital Services Act (DSA), which can impose hefty fines for violations.