Patterned silencing
Digital repression has become a structural filter on Meta’s platforms, deciding who is heard and who is erased. In October and November 2023 alone, Human Rights Watch documented over a thousand cases where Instagram and Facebook removed or suppressed peaceful expressions of solidarity with Palestine.
The patterns were systematic: deleted posts or stories, restricted features, search bans and the quiet throttling of reach known as “shadowbanning.” That same month, Meta’s translation algorithm added the word “terrorist” to Palestinian users’ bios. The company later apologized for the “bug,” but for many, it felt like a slip revealing the machine’s logic.
At the center of this machinery sits Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which functions less like apps and more like global infrastructure. With several billion daily users across its platforms, Meta’s design choices effectively dictate much of the world’s visible reality. When Meta downgrades, deletes or distorts Palestinian content, it is not a marginal glitch on a niche site; it is the main artery of digital communication constricting a people’s ability to speak and be seen.