Palestinian-American sues Meta, alleging speech discrimination on platform

A Palestinian-American engineer has filed a lawsuit against social media company Meta, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination. The engineer, Ferras Hamad, claims that Meta fired him because of his Palestinian background and for raising concerns about the company’s handling of a prominent Palestinian war photographer’s Instagram account. Hamad had been investigating Instagram content filters related to conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The lawsuit points to instances of alleged bias against pro-Palestinian speech within Meta, including the deletion of internal posts and concerns about moderation. Hamad is seeking damages for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.