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I have some Arab friends who are very active on social media. It doesn't surprise me that the sheer volume of their political posts triggers all kinds of anti-s
by fsh 5y ago
I have some Arab friends who are very active on social media. It doesn't surprise me that the sheer volume of their political posts triggers all kinds of anti-spam mechanisms.
I have also occasionally tried researching the background of the claims made in some of the posts. Most were highly misleading or completely made up. So Facebook's campaign against misinformation might have something to do with the described removals. That being said, I still see tons of posts every day and don't have the impression that the platforms are hiding many of them. Even open calls for violence usually stay up.
The issue of alleged censorship aside, I am not convinced that this type of social media activism is beneficial for society. It would be great to have an open discussion on the many issues in the Middle East, but this doesn't really happen there. Most posts are straight up propaganda and and it appears to be taboo among Arabs on social media to even consider the Israeli point of view. Like the author of TFA, they even reject the term "conflict" because it might be thought to imply that both Israelis and Palestinians can have legitimate interests.