Meta apologized after including the word “terrorist” in the bios of some users who identified themselves as Palestinian on the Instagram platform.
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The social networking giant said it had fixed the issue “which briefly caused problems with inappropriate translation into Arabic,” the BBC reported on Friday.
“We are truly sorry this happened,” Meta said.
The platform was also accused of removing content that expressed support for Palestinians during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For example, some users complained that their “Story” publications, which remain visible for 24 hours, were less visible than others and that their account was harder to find in the search bar.
Meta acknowledged that a computer error affected the story system, but assured that it had nothing to do with the published topic.
According to the BBC, this is not the first time that Meta has removed pro-Palestinian content from its platforms.
In May 2021, Human Rights Watch accused Instagram of removing certain videos, photos and comments related to this conflict.
The platform responded that the content was removed because it contained “hate speech or symbols” and changed the algorithm, but Meta still had to request an independent review of its moderation of content related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2021.