Meta removed or flagged 795,000 pieces of content after Israel-Hamas war

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Meta on Friday outlined efforts to combat disinformation and the spread of harmful or disturbing content related to the Israel-Hamas war.

In the three days immediately following the Oct. 7 attack, Meta said it "removed or marked as disturbing more than 795,000 pieces of content," which accounted for more than seven times as many times as posts "on a daily basis" as it had in the two months prior.

"Since the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, and Israel's response in Gaza, experts from across our company have been working around the clock to monitor our platforms, while protecting people's ability to use our apps to shed light on important developments happening on the ground," Meta said in a statement Friday.

Meta said it had taken steps to protect the identity of hostages and against incitement by "temporarily expanding" policy on violence and incitement and removing content that clearly identifies hostages "even if it's being done to condemn or raise awareness of their situation," the company."

"We are allowing content with blurred images of the victims but, in line with standards established by the Geneva Convention, we will prioritize the safety and privacy of kidnapping victims if we are unsure of unable to make a clear assessment," Meta continued.

The company said it has also blocked a number of Instagram hashtags and that it was aware of Hamas' threats to broadcast footage of hostages.

"Our teams are monitoring this closely and would swiftly remove any such content (and the accounts behind it), banking the content in our systems to prevent copies being reshared," Meta said.

The company said it has also taken steps to memorialize the accounts of people who have died.

"We memorialize accounts when we receive a request from a friend or family member of someone who has passed away, to provide a space for people to pay their respects, share memories and support each other," the company continued.

The statement came after the European Commission warned Meta, as well as fellow social media companies X and TikTok to take action against the spread of disinformation related to the war on their platforms.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday similarly responded with a letter to the commission, saying it had also removed or flagged "tens of thousands" of pieces of content.

On Thursday, the commission sought further information from X regarding its response by Oct. 18