Instagram and Twitter blame ‘technical errors’ for deleted Sheikh Jarrah posts

Instagram and Twitter blamed technical errors as the reason for deleting posts mentioning the possible clearance of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but data rights groups fear ‘discriminatory’ algorithms have been put to work and demand greater transparency.

Palestinians residing in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, an area covered illegally by Jewish settlers, have registered their protest on social media as they face eviction but some found their posts, photos, or videos suspended or their accounts blocked beginning last week.

The move comes after a long-running legal case over elimination from homes in Sheikh Jarrah led to tensions in Jerusalem, where hundreds of Palestinians had a faceoff with Israeli police on Monday.

By Monday, 7amleh, a non-profit organization, based on social media received more than 200 complaints regarding deleted posts and suspended accounts about Sheikh Jarrah.

Mona Shtaya, an advocacy adviser at 7amleh claimed, “On Instagram, it was mostly content takedown, even archives from older stories were deleted. On Twitter, most cases were an account suspension,” reported Aljazeera.

However, Instagram and Twitter clarified that the accounts were suspended in error by our automated systems and the problem had been taken care of and content restored.