2023-11-03
WhatsApp’s AI depiction of gun-wielding children when promoted with ‘Palestine,’ demonstrates the need for immediate investigation into racist portrayals of Palestinians across Meta from Australia’s eSafety commissioner.
This comes after Deputy Leader of The Australian Greens and spokesperson for anti-racism, Mehreen Faruqi, questioned the eSafety commissioner in Senate Estimates on Meta’s shadowbanning and censorship of content voicing support for Palestinians and reports that Meta translated ‘Palestinian' and the Arabic phrase “Praise be to Allah” to “Palestinian terrorists.”
Senator Faruqi said:
“Layer by layer the racism and biases in these mega social media platforms are unraveling for all to see.
“The AI imagery of Palestinian children being depicted with guns on WhatsApp is a terrifying insight into the racist and Islamophobic criteria being fed into the algorithm.
“This is right on the heels of Meta translating bios of Palestinian activists to label them as terrorists and shadowbanning Palestinian content. Meta has so far failed to address the issues or give a compelling explanation.
“How many more racist ‘bugs’ need to be exposed before serious action is taken? The damage is already being done. Meta must be held accountable.
“The eSafety commissioner must urgently investigate the racist and Islamophobic imagery being produced by Meta.”