SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook allegedly approved several ads calling for violence against Palestinians, some even calling for the murder of Palestinian civilians and activists, a report has claimed.
According to materials shared with The Intercept, the ads, in both Hebrew and Arabic, included violations of policies for Facebook and its parent company Meta.
“Some contained violent content directly calling for the murder of Palestinian civilians, like ads demanding a ‘holocaust for the Palestinians’ and to wipe out ‘Gazan women and children and the elderly," the report claimed.
Other posts described kids from Gaza as “future terrorists” and a reference to “Arab pigs”.
“The approval of these ads is just the latest in a series of Meta’s failures towards the Palestinian people,” Nadim Nashif, founder of the Palestinian social media research and advocacy group 7amleh, was quoted as saying in the report.
“Throughout this crisis, we have seen a continued pattern of Meta’s clear bias and discrimination against Palestinians,” he added.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the ads had been approved accidentally.
“Despite our ongoing investments, we know that there will be examples of things we miss or we take down in error, as both machines and people make mistakes,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.
“That’s why ads can be reviewed multiple times, including once they go live,” the company spokesperson added.
The ads that violated Meta’s policies were removed from the platform.
The ad had been placed by Ad Kan, a right-wing Israeli group founded by former Israel Defense Force and intelligence officers to combat “anti-Israeli organisations”.
Calling for the assassination of a political activist is a violation of Facebook’s advertising rules.