NEW YORK: A former Meta engineer on Tuesday accused the company of bias in its handling of content related to the war in Gaza, claiming in a lawsuit that Meta fired him for trying to help fix bugs causing the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts.
Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who had been on Meta’s machine learning team since 2021, sued the social media giant in a California state court for discrimination, wrongful termination and other wrongdoing over his February dismissal.
In the complaint, Hamad accused Meta of a pattern of bias against Palestinians, saying the company deleted internal employee communications that mentioned the deaths of their relatives in Gaza and conducted investigations into their use of the Palestinian flag emoji.
The company launched no such investigations for employees posting Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis in similar contexts, according to the lawsuit.
Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Hamad’s allegations.
Hamad’s claims reflect long-standing criticisms by human rights groups over Meta’s performance moderating the content posted to its platforms about Israel and the Palestinian territories, including in an external investigation the company commissioned in 2021.
Conflict erupted in Gaza after Hamas militants attacked inside Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 people hostage according to Israeli tallies. Israel in response launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more then 36,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
Since the outbreak of war last year, the company has faced accusations that it was suppressing expressions of support for Palestinians living amid the war.
Nearly 200 Meta employees raised similar concerns in an open letter to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders earlier this year.
Hamad said his firing appeared to stem from an incident in December involving an emergency procedure designed to troubleshoot severe problems with the company’s platforms, known within Meta as a SEV or “site event.”
He had noted procedural irregularities in the handling of an SEV related to restrictions on content posted by Palestinian Instagram personalities that prevented the posts from appearing in searches and feeds, the complaint said.
In one case, the complaint alleged, he found that a short video posted by Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza had been misclassified as pornographic even though it showed a destroyed building in Gaza.
Hamad said he received conflicting guidance from other employees about the status of the SEV and whether he was authorized to help resolve it, though he had worked on similarly sensitive SEVs before, including ones related to Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. His manager later confirmed in writing that the SEV was part of his job function, he said.
The next month, after a Meta representative told him he was the subject of an investigation, Hamad filed an internal discrimination complaint and days later was fired, he said.
Hamad said Meta told him he was fired for violating a policy barring employees from working on issues with accounts of people they know personally, referring to Azaiza, the photojouralist. Hamad said he had no personal connection to Azaiza.
Former Meta engineer sues company saying he was fired over handling of Gaza content
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Former Meta engineer sues company saying he was fired over handling of Gaza content
- Ferras Hamad accused Meta of firing him for trying to help fix bugs causing the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts
- The engineer also alleged that company deleted internal communications mentioning Gaza’s deaths, Palestinian flag emoji
New season of MBC’s ‘Top Chef’ to be shot in NEOM
- ‘Visionary location aligns food show with city’s futuristic and sustainable values,’ MBC director of production says
LONDON: MBC Group announced on Monday that the new season of its popular show “Top Chef” will be filmed in NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city.
Samar Akrouk, MBC Group’s director of production and MBC Studios’ general manager, said that moving the show to NEOM offers more than just a new location, providing a “visionary setting” that aligns with the city’s futuristic and sustainable values.
“This eighth season will merge the high-energy competition that viewers expect with a strong emphasis on ecological awareness and sustainable living, reflecting the core values of NEOM as a city of the future,” Akron said.
“Top Chef,” originally launched by Bravo in the US, features chefs competing in various culinary challenges, judged by a panel of professional chefs and notable personalities from the food and beverage industry. Contestants face elimination at the end of each episode.
Akrouk explained that this season will introduce a new layer of difficulty.
Contestants will not only be judged on their culinary skills and creativity but also on their “sustainable approach” to cooking.
“These challenges have been designed to inspire contestants to think about food in its relation to the environment,” she added, emphasizing that the program “echoes the principles upon which NEOM is built.”
In the region, the Arabic version of “Top Chef” by MBC Group has previously been filmed in locations across the UAE, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.
NEOM marks the latest location for the program in the Kingdom, underscoring efforts to position the region as a premier filming destination for local, regional, and international productions.
The new season of “Top Chef” is currently in production and is set to be released later this year.
India human rights body says Reuters story on Foxconn hiring raises discrimination concerns
- Reuters investigation alleges that Foxconn rejected married women from iPhone assembly jobs due to family responsibilities
- National Human Rights Commission has requested detailed reports from the Indian and Tamil Nadu governments regarding the accusations
NEW DELHI: India’s human rights watchdog said on Monday it had asked government officials to examine reported discrimination by Foxconn, after a Reuters investigation found the major Apple supplier has been rejecting married women from iPhone assembly jobs in the country.
In a statement, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it had issued notices to the secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s labor ministry and the chief secretary of the state government of Tamil Nadu, site of a major iPhone factory, calling for a detailed report within a week.
“NHRC observes that the matter, if true, raises a serious issue of discrimination against married women causing the violation of the right to equality and equal opportunity,” it said.
The Reuters story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, calls from women groups, including within Modi’s party as well as opposition parties to investigate the matter. Modi’s federal government has also asked Tamil Nadu state for a “detailed report.”
Modi’s labor ministry, Apple and Taiwan-based Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Tamil Nadu government spokesman referred questions to its labor department, which did not respond.
The Reuters investigation found Foxconn systematically excluded married women from jobs at its main India iPhone plant on the grounds they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts. Foxconn hiring agents and HR sources cited family duties, pregnancy and higher absenteeism as reasons for not hiring married women.
Responding to the investigation, published last week, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and said they had worked to address the issues. All the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters at the Tamil Nadu plant, however, took place in 2023 and 2024. The companies didn’t address those instances.
Foxconn has said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple has said all its suppliers, including Foxconn, hire married women and “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022 we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.”
Indian law does not bar companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, though Apple’s and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.
The NHRC said it “noted the fact that gender equality is not only required in the Indian constitution but the international treaty and covenants.”
State authorities must ensure that all companies follow the norms and regulations relating to labor laws, it added.
Meta risks fines over ‘pay for privacy’ model breaking EU rules
- Latest case focuses on Meta’s new ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram, which has sparked multiple complaints over privacy concerns
BRUSSELS: The EU accused Facebook owner Meta on Monday of breaching the bloc’s digital rules, paving the way for potential fines worth billions of euros.
The charges against the US tech titan follow a finding last week against Apple that marked the first time Brussels had levelled formal accusations under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The latest case focuses on Meta’s new ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram, which has sparked multiple complaints over privacy concerns.
Meta’s “pay or consent” system means users have to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.
The European Commission said it informed Meta of its “preliminary view” that the model the company launched last year “fails to comply” with the DMA.
“This binary choice forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data and fails to provide them a less personalized but equivalent version of Meta’s social networks,” the EU’s powerful antitrust regulator said in a statement.
The findings come after the commission kickstarted a probe into Meta in March under the DMA, which forces the world’s biggest tech companies to comply with EU rules designed to give European users more choice online.
Meta insisted its model “complies with the DMA.”
“We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Meta can now reply to the findings and avoid a fine if it changes the model to address the EU’s concerns.
If the commission’s view is confirmed however, it can slap fines of up to 10 percent of Meta’s total global turnover under the DMA. This can rise to up to 20 percent for repeat offenders.
Meta’s total revenue last year stood at around $135 billion (125 billion euros).
The EU also has the right to break up firms, but only as a last resort.
Under the DMA, the EU labels Meta and other companies, including Apple, as “gatekeepers” and prevents them forcing users in the bloc to consent to have access to a service or certain functionalities.
The commission said Meta’s model did not allow users to “freely consent” to their data being shared between Facebook and Instagram with Meta’s ads services.
“The DMA is there to give back to the users the power to decide how their data is used and ensure innovative companies can compete on equal footing with tech giants on data access,” the EU’s top tech enforcer, commissioner Thierry Breton, said.
The commission will adopt a decision on whether Meta’s model is DMA compliant or not by late March 2025.
The EU has shown it is serious about making big online companies change their ways.
The commission told Apple last week its App Store rules were hindering developers from freely pointing consumers to alternative channels for offers.
The EU is also probing Google over similar concerns on its Google Play marketplace.
Apple and Meta are not the only companies coming under the scope of the DMA. Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance must also comply.
Online travel giant Booking.com will need to adhere to the rules later this year.
Meta has made billions from harvesting users’ data to serve up highly targeted ads. But it has faced an avalanche of complaints over its data processing in recent years.
The European data regulator in April has also said the ‘pay or consent’ model is at odds with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which upholds the privacy of users’ information.
Ireland — a major hub for online tech giants operating in the 27-nation bloc — has slapped Meta with massive fines for violating the GDPR.
The latest complaint by privacy groups forced Meta last month to pause its plans to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence technology in Europe.
2 Algerian journalists arrested for publishing video showing businesswomen protesting
- Journalists in Algeria have faced mounting repression since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power four years ago
ALGIERS, Algeria: Algerian authorities arrested two journalists for publishing a video showing businesswomen protesting how they were treated at a government-sponsored event.
Journalists in Algeria have faced mounting repression since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power four years ago, with possible long jail time on flimsy charges, experts say. Many news outlets have also shuttered due to mounting legal fees.
Sofiane Ghirous and Ferhat Omar of the news website “Algerie Scoop” were detained last week for broadcasting material authorities claimed “constituted incitement and hate speech,” according to a statement from the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, a local watchdog group, on Saturday.
In the video, women start-up founders accused the government of “humiliating” and treating them with “contempt” at an innovation event organized by the Ministry of Education and Professional Training.
Ghirous is the editor-in-chief of Algerie Scoop — accredited by the government in 2021— and Omar is the website’s director.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has recently downranked Algeria on its freedom of expression index to 139th out of 180 in 2024 while decrying the country’s “pressure on independent media and threats to arrest journalists.”
In June, the popular news website Radio M announced it would cease publication due to “impossible conditions” while its editor, Ihsane El Kadi, serves a five-year prison sentence on charges alleging his media company accepted foreign funds for his coverage, which was often critical of the government.
Also over the weekend, authorities raided the Librairie Gouraya bookstore in the city of Bejaia, nearly 240 kilometers (149 miles) east of the capital, to prevent the sale of “Shared Kabylia” where a book signing was scheduled for its French author, Dominique Martre. They briefly arrested Martre, the Algerian publisher and several others, including journalists and activists.
In the book, Martre recounts her experiences teaching French in the mountainous region of Kabylia in the 1970s.
Those arrested were released later in the evening, attorney Mokrane Ait Labri — whose journalist brother was among the arrested — said.
The crackdown on freedom of expression comes as Algeria gears up for an election in September. Tebboune will likely seek a second term as president.
New York Times editorial board calls on Biden to leave race
- His determination to run again is a “reckless gamble,” it said, adding: “the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election”
NEW YORK: : America’s most influential newspaper, The New York Times, called in an editorial Friday for President Joe Biden to step aside and allow another Democrat to challenge Donald Trump for the White House in November.
Describing Biden as “the shadow of a great public servant,” the newspaper’s editorial board — which is separate from its newsroom — said Thursday’s debate between the president and Trump proved the 81-year-old “failed his own test.”
His determination to run again is a “reckless gamble,” it said, adding: “the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.”
