Ferras Hamad, a former Meta engineer, has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of unfair dismissal. In the lawsuit, which was submitted to a California state court on Tuesday, June 4, Hamad says that Meta is biased against genocide content from Gaza.
Hamad, who is Palestinian-American, claims the company discriminated against him and misinterpreted his actions. He adds that Meta terminated his employment while he was attempting to correct errors that led to the suppression of Palestinian content.
Ferras Hamad’s lawsuit claims that Meta displayed bias against Palestinian content by even removing internal employee communications about family members who died in Gaza. The suit also highlights that Meta investigated employees for using Palestinian flag emojis, the same scrutiny was not extended to employees using Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis.
Hamad’s dismissal occurred in December, following an incident involving emergency measures to tackle significant problems on the company’s platform, referred to at Meta as a SEV or “site event.” Hamad identified discrepancies in the SEV policy that adversely affected Palestinian Instagram accounts, resulting in restrictions on posts in searches and feeds.
The lawsuit highlights an instance where a brief video from Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian journalist, was incorrectly tagged as pornographic content, even though it only showed buildings destroyed in Gaza.
Meta dismissed Hamad, citing a breach of policies forbidding employees from handling accounts of people they know personally. However, Hamad says he did not have any personal connection with Azaiza.
Hamad’s lawsuit contributes to ongoing critiques of Meta’s content moderation practices, underscoring concerns about the company’s bias and its ability to remain neutral on politically charged issues.
The company has faced allegations of censoring posts in support of Palestine, with criticisms even going further back before the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel.
