Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has apologized for inserting the word "terrorist" into some Palestinian users' profile bios.
This issue occurred when users had the word "Palestinian" written in English, along with the Palestinian flag emoji and the Arabic phrase "alhamdulillah," which translates to "Praise be to God" in English.
However, the translation presented was problematic, reading: "Praise be to God, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom" upon selecting "see translation".
The problem came to light when TikTok user YtKingKhan posted a video demonstrating this issue on his Instagram account.
Following the video's viral spread, Meta issued an apology and acknowledged that a bug briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations in some of its products.
Notably, this incident occurred amid allegations that Meta has been suppressing content supporting Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Some users have claimed they were "shadow-banned" on Instagram for their pro-Palestinian posts and that their content was demoted - reducing its visibility in others' feeds.
Meta responded by explaining that it has implemented measures to address the surge in harmful content during the Israel-Hamas war and denied deliberately suppressing any voices.
The company emphasized that while content praising Hamas or displaying violent and graphic material is prohibited, errors can happen in the moderation process.
Users are encouraged to appeal against such actions.
Additionally, Meta admitted to a bug during the week that affected the visibility of re-shared reels and posts in Instagram stories which lead to a significant reduction in reach.
This issue was not limited to posts about Israel and Gaza, according to Meta.
