Former Meta Engineer Alleges Bias In Handling Of Gaza Content, Claims Unjust Termination

A former Meta engineer has accused the company of bias in its handling of content related to the war in Gaza. In a lawsuit, he claimed that Meta fired him for attempting to address bugs that suppressed Palestinian Instagram posts.

Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who had been part of Meta’s machine learning team since 2021, filed the lawsuit in a California state court, alleging discrimination, wrongful termination, and other misconduct related to his dismissal in February.

In the complaint, Hamad accused Meta of demonstrating a pattern of bias against Palestinians, stating that the company deleted internal communications from employees mentioning the deaths of their relatives in Gaza and investigated their use of the Palestinian flag emoji.

Since the war's outbreak last year, the company has faced accusations of suppressing support for Palestinians. Earlier this year, nearly 200 Meta employees expressed similar concerns in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders.

Hamad stated that Meta informed him of his termination for breaching a policy prohibiting employees from addressing issues involving individuals they personally know.

He cited photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, recognised for his coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, as an example. However, Hamad emphasised that he had no personal relationship with Azaiza.