Meta has apologised for inserting the term “terrorist” into the biographies of some Palestinian users on Instagram, attributing it to a “bug” in the platform’s auto-translation feature.
This is not the first time Meta has made headlines for its discriminatory actions against Palestinian users and then chalking them up to technical errors. The company, which owns both Instagram and Facebook, has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of digital rights advocates and tech accountability experts for restricting Palestinian content and threatening pro-Palestine profiles with bans.
This time, however, the outrage stems from Instagram’s labelling of several Palestinian users as “terrorists”.
The issue first came to light earlier this week when a TikToker posted a video showing his Instagram bio. In his bio was written “Palestinian”, accompanied by an emoji of the Palestinian flag and the Arabic term “alhamdulillah”, which is an expression of gratitude and praise to God.
However, when the bio was translated into English using Instagram’s auto-translation option, it read, “Praise be to god, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for freedom”.
Instagram’s parent Meta has since issued statements of apology to leading news publications, including the BBC and Guardian Australia, for the insensitive insertions.
“We fixed a problem that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations in some of our products,” a company spokesperson said. “We sincerely apologise that this happened”. The auto-translation of the combination now reads: “Thank God”.
Meta has been facing accusations of demoting content supporting Palestine across its social media platforms, primarily Instagram and Facebook, as humanitarian conditions in Gaza worsen due to Israel’s relentless strikes and the blockade of essential aid into the ravaged region.
Last week, Meta announced measures to address “the spike in harmful and potentially harmful content spreading” on its platforms. However, reports of “shadow banning” by the platform continue to emerge from different parts of the world, with several users reporting limited reach and reduced visibility for their pro-Palestine content.
Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto and American fashion model Bella Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, are among the many notable figures to have raised the issue of shadow banning of their pro-Palestinian posts on Instagram. Hadid has called out Instagram on several occasions for shadow banning her Stories (24-hour posts) on Palestine in the past as well.
In September 2022, a report released by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) revealed that Meta violated Palestinians’ freedom of expression and over-enforced content moderation policies on posts from Arabic-speaking users. The research analysed content posted on Meta platforms throughout Israel’s May 2021 attacks on Gaza.
The report was commissioned to BSR by the Oversight Board, which is Meta’s “independent” advisory body. The over-enforcement had resulted in the removal of pro-Palestinian posts that did not violate the company’s guidelines and placement of several hashtags, including those related to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Meta’s hashtag block list.
