Former Meta engineer sues social media giant over alleged removal of Palestinian content

Former engineer Meta Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American, sued the giant, claiming the company fired him for trying to fix bugs causing Palestinian posts on Instagram to be removed.

Hamad sued Meta in California state court for wrongful termination, discrimination and other wrongdoing after he was asked to leave in February.

Hamad, in his complaint, accused Meta of bias against Palestinians and said the company deleted employees' internal communications that included information about the deaths of their loved ones in Gaza and conducted investigations into their use of the Palestinian flag emoji.

The lawsuit also said Meta did not conduct any investigations into employees displaying Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis in similar situations.

Human rights groups have long criticized Meta's moderation of content related to Israel and Palestine. There has also been criticism of an external investigation commissioned by Meta in 2021. Hamad's claims include all of the points mentioned above. Nearly 200 Meta employees raised concerns in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders of the organization earlier this year, accusing the company of cutting positions supporting Palestinians affected by the war.