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Instagram—BBC found 77% decline in Palestinian news engagement after algorithm changes post-October 2023

BBC data analysis in December 2024 showed Palestinian news outlets saw 77% decline in engagement after October 7, 2023, while Israeli outlets saw 37% increase. Leaked internal documents revealed Instagram's algorithm was adjusted within a week of October 7th, lowering the moderation confidence threshold for Palestinian content from 80% to 25%, causing significantly more removals.

Scoring Impact

TopicDirectionRelevanceContribution
Algorithmic Fairness-againstprimary-1.00
Content Moderation-againstprimary-1.00
Overall incident score =-0.443

Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (negligent ×0.5)

Evidence (1 signal)

Confirms Policy Change Dec 19, 2024 verified

BBC found 77% decline in Palestinian news engagement after algorithm changes post-October 2023

BBC data analysis in December 2024 showed Palestinian news outlets saw 77% decline in engagement after October 7, 2023, while Israeli outlets saw 37% increase. Leaked internal documents revealed Instagram's algorithm was adjusted within a week of October 7th, lowering the moderation confidence threshold for Palestinian content from 80% to 25%, causing significantly more removals.

Middle East Monitor(opens in new tab),Silicon UK(opens in new tab)

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