Rep. Tlaib calls out social media companies for censoring Palestinian speech

Rep. Rashida Tlaib sent a letter to social media companies accusing them of censoring Palestinian political speech on their platforms.

The letter, dated last week amid the 11-day violent conflict between Israel and Hamas, was sent to the companies that own Facebook (which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp), Twitter, and TikTok. Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress, shared the letter on Twitter Tuesday.

Link to tweet

"I write with urgent concern regarding reports of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok censoring content and disabling user accounts on your respective platforms that are raising awareness about recent Israeli state-backed violence on the Palestinian people," Tlaib wrote. "It is critical to ensure that your companies, whether intentional or unintentional, do not have algorithms and staff that silence people based on their ethnicity or religious affiliation."

She added, "With reporting in the mainstream media often ignoring and silencing Palestinian voices, social media has become a crucial source for information, pictures, and videos documenting the injustices that Palestinians face. Social media accounts have been some of the only places for Americans to access first-hand accounts of the occupation and violence from Palestinians on the ground. That is why these reports are particularly troubling — Palestinians often have nowhere else to turn to make their voices heard."

Read more: https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2021/05/27/rep-tlaib-calls-out-social-media-companies-for-allegedly-censoring-palestinian-speech