15.10.2023

After the attack by the Islamist group Hamas against Israel, the parent corporation of Facebook and Instagram Meta is taking action against fake news from Hamas. Meta decided to enforce their policies more strictly in order to remove unlawful and misleading content from their platforms.

According to a statement, the corporation has established a dedicated operations centre with specialists, some of whom are able to communicate in Hebrew or Arabic. This was done in order to facilitate a rapid response to any new events. The swift eradication of infractions of community norms as well as incorrect information is the goal.

More than 795,000 pieces of content were removed or tagged from Instagram or Facebook as upsetting in the three days after October 7 because they violated these criteria in Hebrew and Arabic.

In the three days after the assault, in comparison to the preceding two months, seven times as much content in Hebrew and Arabic was removed every day because it violated the restrictions on hazardous organisations and persons. These guidelines were put in place because of the attack.

Meta is in the process of broadening its guidelines

Meta is temporarily expanding its restrictions on violence and incitement and will remove content in which hostages may be clearly recognised if the company is made aware of it. This is to ensure that people who have been kidnapped by Hamas are not put in any additional risk than they already are. Accounts that were hidden behind this would be removed.

In addition, access to a number of hashtags on Instagram was limited because content related to those hashtags violated Instagram’s community guidelines. These hashtags will no longer be searchable as a result of this change; however, the content itself will only be removed if it is found to be in violation of the guidelines. People who broke the rules weren’t allowed to use the live functions, so that was another consequence they faced.

Mark Zuckerberg received warning by EU Commissioner

Before this, on October 11th, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a warning to the head of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, to limit the dissemination of disinformation.

It is incumbent upon Zuckerberg to ensure that any content that violates the law or spreads misinformation is swiftly and thoroughly removed from Facebook and Instagram. The platforms ought to work together with the authorities charged with law enforcement and Europol.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) serves as the legal justification for the request. The European Union (EU) hopes that by passing this rule, it would be able to force online companies to take greater action against fake news, hate speech, and portrayals of violence.