Palestinian-run MintPress News appeals for help after Meta attack

Left-wing. Palestinian-run US news site MintPress News (MPN) is, like the Canary and Skwawkbox, a frequent target of the establishment and the Israel lobby because of its stance against genocide and imperialism.

Now the site is facing the obliteration of its presence – almost 900,000 followers – on the Facebook and Instagram platforms owned by Meta. This is, of course, the same gigantic company whose ‘Israel policy’ is run by a former adviser to wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu who has spoken about the ‘privilege’ of ‘influencing’ content and has been exposed targeting the student anti-genocide movement and other pro-Palestine pages under Facebook’s ‘Dangerous organizations and individuals’ policy.

The company’s actions on behalf of Israel are so extensive that it has been accused, even before Israel’s genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, by Human Rights Watch of “systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook”.

MintPress News suspended

Now, Meta has suspended MintPress News, without explanation, on both Facebook and Instagram. The suspension means that none of its readers on those platforms can access any new or past content. And, in less than six months, that suspension will become permanent. In a statement on X, MPN has appealed for help in pressuring the social media giant to reinstate its pages and has defended its journalistic standards:

This is an attack on journalism and the Free Press. MintPress News is a leading 14 year old independent investigative news outlet exposing the architects of the US forever war machine. Our news outlet is run by me, Mnar Adley — a Palestinian American journalist and a survivor of Israeli occupation and apartheid. We have an incredible team with the best investigative journalists and truth tellers from Alan MacLeod, Greg Stoker, Lowkey, Robert Inlakesh and Carlos Latuff and many more.

We had close to 300,000 followers on Instagram and we have close to 600,000 on Facebook. We don’t report on anything without receipts, citations and sources. But we know that our journalism is a target by Meta whom we’ve exposed to have a close relationship with Israeli and US intelligence.

We’ve uncovered hundreds of veterans from Israel’s elite military unit 8200 working inside of Meta and managing content moderation. This is the same military unit that created NSOs Pegasus to spy on activists and was used by Saudi Arabia to track and kill Jamal Khashoggi. And we can’t forget how Meta’s Israel policy chief Jordana Cutler takes direct orders from the state of Israel to target, censor and delete pro Palestine content on the platform — content that exposes Israeli apartheid and it’s crimes against humanity.

Meta did not tell us why we were suspended but luckily gave us an option to appeal but I’m not sure if that will give us our page back of about 300,000 followers. We will see what happens next. Please pressure Meta and Zuck to get our page back .

As Meta extends its snooping into its users business and comments, the company has also now begun to read direct messages and AI chats, highlighting the need for social media platforms that genuinely run for the benefit of its users and are not so susceptible to commercial and political pressure to compromise them.

Meta makes it extremely difficult to reach it directly with complaints. Share this article widely to raise awareness – and those who wish to do so might email its press office or its investor relations office informing them that you will boycott its platforms if MPN’s pages are not reinstated.

For a Palestinian-founded and -run alternative to corporate social media, try Upscrolled.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/MintPress News