Dozens of Tunisian, Syrian, and Palestinian activists and journalists say their Facebook accounts have been deactivated recently on the pretext of terrorism
“Facebook doesn't care. It closes our accounts on the pretext of terrorism. We are against terrorism and violence," one journalist said. Tweets: @eff , @oliviasolon , @sivavaid , @evan_greer , @blackamazon , @aprilaser , and @oliviasolon See also Mediagazer Tweets: @eff : Facebook's deactivation of accounts of journalists and activists, while allowing similar content from politicians, is clear and continuing evidence that it dangerously privileges and creates exemptions for those already in positions of power https://www.nbcnews.com/... Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : While Facebook refused to touch Trump's posts to protect free speech it's culled dozens of accounts of activists and journalists outside of the US https://www.nbcnews.com/... Siva Vaidhyanathan / @sivavaid : Next time someone tells you Zuckerberg believes in free speech show then this. https://twitter.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : Absolutely crucial reporting. White liberals in the US spend a lot of time handwringing about “misinformation” and “harmful content” online and almost never talk about the voices silenced by Big Tech platforms' hamfisted responses to calls for more aggressive moderation https://twitter.com/... @blackamazon : Black women told everybody this in 2016z the Rohjngya , thé Dalit , how many times how many https://twitter.com/... April Glaser / @aprilaser : In the last two months, Facebook has deactivated the accounts of at least 52 of Palestinian journalists and activists, at least 35 Syrian journalists and activists, and more than 60 Tunisian journalists, activists and the public https://www.nbcnews.com/... by @oliviasolon Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : “Public debate means providing a space where everybody can speak. The whole focus on Trump has shown he [Zuckerberg] doesn't understand what freedom of expression really means.” @davidakaye https://www.nbcnews.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
This report lands in the same month as Facebook's internal revolt: hundreds of staff staged a virtual walkout over Zuckerberg's decision to leave Trump's inflammatory posts standing, while outside the building EFF and other advocates were flagging that accounts of Tunisian, Syrian, and Palestinian journalists were being deactivated under terrorism pretexts. The juxtaposition is the story — one set of speech protected by political power, another removed by automated or opaque enforcement.
The pattern did not end there. When Facebook eventually suspended Trump, activists and human rights groups urged the companies to apply their policies evenly around the world, and the Oversight Board's ruling on that ban was criticized precisely for failing to establish that powerful figures can't endanger the public — leaving the asymmetry these Middle Eastern journalists experienced unresolved.
First-order effects
- Dozens of Tunisian, Syrian, and Palestinian journalists and activists lose their primary distribution channel overnight, with appeals routed through a system that labeled their work terrorism.
- Facebook draws direct public criticism from EFF and named advocates — Evan Greer, Olivia Solon, Siva Vaidhyanathan — who frame the deactivations as evidence the company privileges those already in power.
Second-order effects
- The contrast with Facebook's hands-off treatment of Trump's posts hardens into a standing argument used by rights groups pressing for geographically even enforcement, forcing the company to defend policy consistency it cannot demonstrate.
- Internal dissent compounds: employees who walked out over Trump's posts now have external documentation of the opposite behavior toward less powerful users, raising the cost of Facebook's 'neutral platform' positioning.
Third-order effects
- If enforcement asymmetry by political power persists, content moderation drifts from rule-following toward rank-based governance — where a user's leverage, not the content, determines whether speech survives — inviting regulatory attention to how takedown decisions are applied across regions.
- Opaque terrorism-pretext removals of journalists in conflict-affected regions point toward a structural accountability gap: no external body, including the Oversight Board as constituted, currently reviews enforcement against non-elite users at scale.
The trend: Platform governance is converging on an enforcement double standard — powerful political speech shielded, marginalized users' speech removed — making consistent global moderation the next battleground for regulators and rights groups alike.