PALESTINIAN news outlets have suffered a drop in audience engagement after being hampered by Facebook, research has found.
In a detailed analysis of Facebook data, the BBC has discovered newsrooms in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have suffered a fall in engagement since October 2023.
Conversely, Israel-based news platforms have seen their engagement increase.
The broadcaster has also reported on leaked documents showing that Instagram – another Meta-owned platform – increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023.
Meta has said any claims it has deliberately suppressed voices are “unequivocally false”.
Since the start of the conflict, only a few outside reporters have been allowed to enter Gaza and only when escorted by the Israeli army, and so social media has filled a gap for those wanting to hear from people inside Gaza.
BBC News Arabic compiled engagement data on the Facebook pages of 20 prominent Palestinian-based news organisations in the year leading up to the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, and in the year since. The data showed a 77% decline after the attacks.
Meanwhile, journalists at Palestine TV have shared statistics showing a 60% drop in the number of people seeing their posts. The channel has almost six million followers on Facebook.
"Interaction was completely restricted, and our posts stopped reaching people," says Tariq Ziad, a journalist at the channel.
Research was also carried out on Facebook pages for 30 prominent Arabic-language news sources based elsewhere, such as Sky News Arabia and Al-Jazeera, but these saw an average increase in engagement of 100%.
At least 137 Palestinian journalists are reported to have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
At the weekend, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed a journalist working for Al Jazeera.
Last month, an investigation by the Guardian found the Israeli killing of three journalists could be a war crime, according to experts.
The probe found that on October 25 at 3.19am, an Israeli jet shot two bombs at a chalet hosting three reporters.
Cameraman Ghassan Najjar and technician Mohammad Reda from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, and cameraman Wissam Qassem from the Hezbollah-affiliated outlet al-Manar were all killed in their sleep.
Based on the findings, three experts in international humanitarian law said the attack could constitute a war crime and called for further investigation.
