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Instagram is changing its app to show more viral and topical messages among its staff complaints, as users did not see pro-Palestinian content in the recent conflict in Gaza.
So far, the social networking app has prioritized the original content over the “stories” it displays at the top of a user’s feed over the content being shared or re-published by other people.
Now, Instagram will categorize the original and re-published content equally, based on internal messages from two people and employees who know the situation, in a move that will help the latest news post reach a wider audience.
A spokesman said the number of users sharing messages about the recent conflict in Gaza has risen, but the way the app is set up today has had a “greater impact than expected” on how many people have seen the message.
“Stories that re-share feeds that don’t get the reach that people expect are not a good experience,” the spokesperson said. “Over time, we’re going to give equal weight to re-shared messages the way we do stories that were originally created.”
Instagram said the move did not address issues related to pro-Palestinian content, but it has long been examined.
A spokesman said the algorithm “convinced people that we were deleting stories about certain topics or points of view,” but added: “We want to be very clear – it’s not like that. It applied to any publication that is shared again in the stories, whatever.”
A group of 50 employees on Facebook, the owner of Instagram, expressed concern about removing pro-Palestinian voices, an employee involved said.
The employee said the group has filed more than 80 appeals regarding the censored content of the company’s automatic moderation system. BuzzFeed even earlier reported about the existence of the group.
Facebook’s algorithms have labeled words commonly used by Palestinian users, such as “martyrs” and “resistance,” as a boost to violence, and removed messages about the al-Aqsa mosque after mislinking Islam’s third holiest site with a terrorist organization, according to the U.S. media reports.
The employee told the Financial Times that he did not believe there was deliberate censorship on Facebook, but suggested that “going on a moderate scale against all excluded groups” and that the removal was excessive.
Facebook said: “We know there have been a number of issues that have affected people’s ability to share in our apps. We feel that they couldn’t draw attention to important events for those who felt it or for those who thought it was deliberate removing their voice. That was never our intention, nor community or perspective. I also want to silence a certain one. ‘
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