Ex-Meta Engineer Sues Company Over Gaza Content Bias
Ferras Hamad, a former engineer at Meta, has filed a lawsuit against the social media company, alleging wrongful termination and discrimination. Hamad claims he was fired for attempting to address bugs that led to the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts. He accuses Meta of bias, including deleting internal communications mentioning the deaths of employees' relatives in Gaza and investigating the use of the Palestinian flag emoji. The lawsuit also mentions that no similar investigations were conducted for the use of Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis.
The lawsuit comes amid ongoing criticism of Meta's content moderation policies regarding Israel and the Palestinian territories. Nearly 200 Meta employees have raised concerns about the company's handling of content related to the Gaza conflict in an open letter. Human rights groups have also criticized Meta for allegedly suppressing expressions of support for Palestinians. The company has faced accusations of bias, especially following the outbreak of the Gaza war last year.
