From changes to the proposed digital rights authority in Pakistan to former Meta engineer suing the company over suppression of Palestinian posts in the US, here’s everything we covered at Digital Rights Monitor (DRM) this week.
PAKISTAN: Revisions proposed for Digital Rights Protection Authority
Revisions have been proposed for the functioning of Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA), which was constituted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month, to enhance the complaint registration process for social media content, according to a report by Dawn.com.
On May 20, PM Shehbaz established the DRPA led by Rana Sanaullah, who is adviser to the premier. The committee, which would potentially replace all existing social media regulatory bodies, piled up concerns from rights advocates and political parties after its initial draft was sent to the federal cabinet. According to Dawn’s sources, the proposed changes to the DRPA concern the process of registering complaints against social media content.
“It has been added that only the aggrieved person can lodge a complaint and there has to be mechanism to determine if the complainant was the aggrieved person or not,” the sources informed Dawn. “Secondly it is important to predetermine if the complaint, too, is a genuine violation of the rights of the complainant or not.”
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US: New York reportedly restricting social media algorithms for young users
New York is set to impose major restrictions on social media algorithms to control content targeted at young users, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The expected changes related to the working of social media platforms will bar tech companies from pushing content towards teens using algorithmic recommendations without parental consent. The development arrives under a tentative agreement reached by the lawmakers, the WSJ report says, citing informed sources.
Under the new restrictions, social media platforms would require parental consent for automated content and late-night notifications to underage users.
Leading social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, have been under intense regulatory glare in the US, with regulators and lawmakers calling for stricter restrictions against what they deem the “addictive” features on these platforms.
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US: Engineer sues Meta over discriminatory handling of Palestinian posts
Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who formerly worked at Meta, has taken the company to court, accusing it of discriminatory handling of Palestinian content on Instagram, according to a report by Reuters.
Hamad alleges that Meta fired him for attempting to fix bugs that caused the suppression of posts related to Palestine in the wake of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military atrocities have killed more than 36,000 people in Palestine since October 7, 2023, including over 14,000 children, journalists, aid workers, and medical professionals.
Hamad had been associated with Meta’s machine learning team since 2021. He has filed the lawsuit against the Facebook parent in a California court, accusing it of wrongful termination, discrimination, and wrongdoing, according to Reuters. Hamad was fired by Meta in February 2024.
According to Hamad’s complaint against Meta, the company has been biased against Palestinians, and that any internal communication by the employees regarding the deaths of their relatives in Gaza was deliberately deleted by Meta. In addition, Meta launched a probe against the employees using the Palestinian flag emoji on their social media accounts.
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