Palestinian American sues Meta after firing, alleging discrimination

Hamad did not receive such a response when handling content related to the war in Ukraine or other current events, the complaint notes.

The court filing also accuses Meta of removing posts in which employees mention the deaths of relatives in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes; launching investigations into the use of the Palestinian flag emoji; and deleting posts that drew attention to Palestinian–related content being censored, misclassified or removed, among other alleged discriminatory incidents.

Hamad’s suit places renewed scrutiny on Meta, which has been accused by Human Rights Watch of suppressing Palestinian voices on its platforms since the war in Gaza began.

It is the latest instance of inner turmoil at companies such as Meta and Google over the current conflict, which started after Hamas attacked Israeli communities, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages. The war has taken a heavy toll on Gaza, and fueled what aid groups describe as an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

In response to a request for comment about the case, Meta said, “The employee was dismissed for violating Meta’s data access policies, which we make clear to employees will result in immediate termination.”

Hamad’s termination was made specifically on the grounds that he “may personally know” Motaz Azaiza, a prominent Palestinian photojournalist whose content Hamad discovered was misclassified as pornographic, the complaint said.

In an emailed statement, one of Hamad’s lawyers, Shahmeer Halepota, said that “to suggest that Mr. Hamad knows him simply because they are both Palestinian — when they have no personal connection whatsoever — is emblematic of Meta’s biases.”

“Would Meta do the same to a British employee investigating an issue with Piers Morgan’s account?” Halepota added.

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Hamad joined Meta’s machine learning team as a software engineer in 2022 and received “glowing performance reviews” before his termination. Shortly before he was fired, his manager confirmed in writing that his actions were correct, the complaint said.

“Conducted against the backdrop of one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history,” Hamad’s treatment caused him “extreme emotional distress,” it said.

The case spotlights wider concern over Meta’s handling of content related to the war in Gaza.

Last month, Meta employees published an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company leadership, writing that support for Palestinians, including colleagues, “is met with internal censorship of employee concerns, biased leadership statements showing one-sided support, and external censorship that is raising public alarm and distrust of our platforms.” Some employees have resigned in response, it noted.

A report from Human Rights Watch last year documented more than 1,000 instances of “systemic online censorship” of pro-Palestinian voices on Meta’s Instagram and Facebook platforms. The issue has drawn the attention of Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Meta is not the only tech company that has been shaken by the conflict. At Google, dozens of employees were fired after they participated in protests denouncing the company’s cloud computing deal with the Israeli government. In April, the terminated employees also took legal action, filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.