WAHINGTON, December 18, 2024 (WAFA) - According to BBC research, Facebook, owned by the American tech company Meta, has imposed restrictions on the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, just a few outside reporters have been allowed to enter the Palestinian coastal territory of Gaza from the outside, and they were only able to do so escorted by the Israeli army, said the research.
In a comprehensive analysis of Facebook data, we found that newsrooms in the Palestinian territories - in Gaza and the West Bank - had suffered a steep drop in audience engagement since October 2023, said BBC.
The BBC has also seen leaked documents showing that Instagram - another Meta-owned platform - increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023, it said.
Social media has filled the gap for those wanting to hear more voices from inside Gaza. Facebook pages for news outlets such as Palestine TV, Wafa news agency and Palestinian Al-Watan News - which operate out of the West Bank territory - became a vital source of updates for many around the world., said BBC.
BBC News Arabic compiled engagement data on the Facebook pages of 20 prominent Palestinian-based news organizations in the year leading up to the aggression and the following year.
"During a period of war, audience engagement might be expected to rise. However, the data showed a 77% decline after 7 October 2023."
Palestine TV has 5.8 million followers on Facebook. Journalists at the newsroom shared statistics with us showing a 60% drop in the number of people seeing their posts, said BBC.
"Interaction was completely restricted, and our posts stopped reaching people," says Tariq Ziad, a journalist at the channel.
Over the past year, Palestinian journalists have raised fears that their online content is being "shadow-banned" by Meta - in other words, restricted in how many people see it, said BBC.
"To test this, we carried out the same data analysis on the Facebook pages of 20 Israeli news organizations such as Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Channel 13. These pages also posted a large amount of war-related content, but their audience engagement increased by nearly 37%, "said BBC.
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