Facebook Community Standards: The New Gatekeeper For Palestinian News Networks? رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This research examines the influence of Facebook Community Standards and alogarithms on the discourse of Palestinian news networks, and how such standards forced changes in editorial policies and self-censorship exercise when posting content on the platform. It aims to analyze the relation between Palestinian news networks and Facebook platform, with a focus on how these networks deal with the restrictions imposed by the platform, how these restrictions influence the type and method of display of the content posted, and the networks’ use of soft tactics (appeal). The researcher depended on two tools to collect the data; interviews (10 participants) and content analysis (240 posts), and used Gatekeeping theory. The research results showed that Facebook Community Standards impose major restrictions on freedom of expression and publication among Palestinian journalists. The analysis showed that news on Palestinian death tolls due to Israeli assaults, and the resistance are usually changed or ignored to avoid being restricted as a news page on Facebook. Facebook Community Standards were found to exercise a role similar to that of the conventional Gatekeeper but using complex digital mechanisms that force new challenges on Palestinian media instead