Meta adjusts comment settings for Israel-Hamas discussions

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has introduced temporary measures to limit potentially unwanted comments on posts related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The default setting for who can comment on new and public Facebook posts created by users in the region will now be limited to their friends and followers, although users can opt out and change this setting. Meta will also disable the ability to see the first one or two comments on posts in the Facebook feed.

The company emphasised that these policies are meant to ensure user safety and give everyone a voice, and they apply these policies globally. Meta denied any deliberate suppression of voices and clarified that they have designated Hamas as a "dangerous organisation," leading to the ban on content praising the group.

Content suppression allegations

Earlier, there were complaints from users who supported Palestine or Gaza, accusing Meta of suppressing their content. Instagram, owned by Meta, suspended the profile of a video correspondent from the news website Mondoweiss, which covers Palestinian human rights. Some Instagram users also reported that their posts and stories related to Palestine were not receiving views.

Meta acknowledged a bug on Instagram that affected re-posted content, but they stated that it was not specific to the content's subject and had a global impact. This issue has been resolved.

(With Reuters Inputs)