Facebook violated rights of Palestinian users, report finds
California (US) (AP): Actions by Facebook and its parent Meta during last year's Gaza war violated the rights of Palestinian users to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, political participation and non-discrimination, a report commissioned by the social media company has found.
The report on Thursday from independent consulting firm Business for Social Responsibility confirmed long-standing criticisms of Meta's policies and their uneven enforcement as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: It found the company over-enforced rules when it came to Arabic content and under-enforced content in Hebrew.
It, however, did not find intentional bias at Meta, either by the company as a whole or among individual employees.
The report's authors said they found no evidence of racial, ethnic, nationality or religious animus in governing teams and noted Meta has "employees representing different viewpoints, nationalities, races, ethnicities, and religions relevant to this conflict".
Rather, it found numerous instances of unintended bias that harmed the rights of Palestinian and Arabic-speaking users.
In response, Meta said it plans to implement some of the report's recommendations, including improving its Hebrew-language classifiers", which help remove violating posts automatically using artificial intelligence.
There are no quick, overnight fixes to many of these recommendations, as BSR makes clear," the company based in Menlo Park, California, said in a blog post on Thursday.
"While we have made significant changes as a result of this exercise already, this process will take time including time to understand how some of these recommendations can best be addressed, and whether they are technically feasible.
Meta, the report confirmed, also made serious errors in enforcement. For instance, as the Gaza war raged last May, Instagram briefly banned the hashtag #AlAqsa, a reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, a flash point in the conflict.
Meta, which owns Instagram, later apologised, explaining its algorithms had mistaken the third-holiest site in Islam for the militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party.
The report echoed issues raised in internal documents from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen last fall, showing that the company's problems are systemic and have long been known inside Meta.
A key failing is the lack of moderators in languages other than English, including Arabic among the most common languages on Meta's platforms.
For users in the Gaza, Syria and other Middle East regions marred by conflict, the issues raised in the report are nothing new.
Israeli security agencies and watchdogs, for instance, have monitored Facebook and bombarded it with thousands of orders to take down Palestinian accounts and posts as they try to crack down on incitement.
They flood our system, completely overpowering it, Ashraf Zeitoon, Facebook's former head of policy for the Middle East and North Africa region, who left in 2017, told The Associated Press last year. That forces the system to make mistakes in Israel's favour.
Israel experienced an intense spasm of violence in May 2021 with weeks of tensions in east Jerusalem escalating into an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The violence spread into Israel itself, with the country experiencing the worst communal violence between Jewish and Arab citizens in years.
In an interview this week, Israel's national police chief, Kobi Shabtai, told the Yediot Ahronot daily that he believed social media had fuelled the communal fighting.
He called for shutting down social media if similar violence occurs again and said he had suggested blocking social media to lower the flames last year.
I'm talking about fully shutting down the networks, calming the situation on the ground, and when it's calm reactivating them, he was quoted as saying. We're a democratic country, but there's a limit.
The comments caused an uproar and the police issued a clarification saying that his proposal was only meant for extreme cases. Omer Barlev, the Cabinet minister who oversees police, also said that Shabtai has no authority to impose such a ban.
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Akash Singh says signature celebration fuels motivation, reinforces dominance
Lucknow (PTI): Pacer Akash Singh caught the eye with his unique celebration during Lucknow Super Giants' win over Chennai Super Kings, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket after a wicket, a gesture he said was aimed at "motivating" himself and "asserting dominance" over batters.
The left-arm pacer pulled out a scrappy piece of paper after each of the three wickets he took in LSG seven-wicket win over CSK, with the message reading: "Akki on fire -- Akash knows how to take wickets in T20 cricket.
The 24-year-old, who began his IPL journey with Rajasthan Royals and was part of Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning campaign in 2023 before moving to Lucknow Super Giants, registered his best IPL figures with 3 for 26 on Friday.
"'Akki knows how to take wickets in T20 cricket', right?" Akash said when asked about the message on the piece of paper, adding that it serves as a source of motivation and helps him focus on dominating batters and delivering stronger performances for the team.
"Different things motivate different people. Some days I show the paper, some days I don't, but it reflects my mindset on that particular day. When you carry a piece of paper with something written on it, you manifest things and the most important part is when those manifestations actually materialise," he added.
Akash, who hails from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, said the strong backing from the Lucknow Super Giants support staff over the last two years had played a huge role in his growth as a cricketer.
"I've been with LSG for two years and the most important thing has been the backing from the coaches, even when I'm not in the playing XI. This year we have Bharat Arun sir, last year Zaheer sir was there...Tom Moody. The way they guide us, prepare us and keep us ready for opportunities is very important when there are 25 players in the squad," he said.
"When you are not playing, you naturally seek backing and every player wants to make the most of the opportunities he gets. The support from the captain also matters a lot and with Rishabh bhaiya backing you, the confidence grows and you are able to perform better," Akash said, referring to Rishabh Pant.
Akash said Pant had asked him to trust his strengths ahead of the clash against CSK.
"He told me that the new ball is my strength and that I can swing it both ways. So I just tried to make the best use of my skills. The wicket also had good bounce, so I focused on using the bouncer effectively,” added Akash.
On his success against CSK, Akash said his experience of playing in the IPL since 2020, including a stint with CSK, helped him understand the opposition batters better, while backing his own strengths with the ball also played a key role in his impressive spell.
"Obviously, when you play in the IPL and have shared the dressing room with some players, you understand their strengths and weaknesses. My focus was first to back my own strengths, then exploit their weaknesses and also make the best use of what the wicket was offering," Akash said.
Akash said he had sensed over the last two-three games that an opportunity could come his way after being repeatedly told to "be ready", though he admitted he was unfortunate not to get a chance earlier.
"Two days before the match, during practice, I was told to be ready," he said.
Clarifying that he had not been carrying the piece of paper in anticipation, Akash said he often notes down thoughts that could help improve his game..
"Whenever I’m alone or about to sleep, any thought that comes to my mind which can help my cricket, I write it down. The other night I got this thought and jotted it down on paper," he added.
