Meta hosts property ads from West Bank. Making big profits?
Facebook has given a platform to over 100 property ads promoting houses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Is the social media company Meta making big money with these ads? World
Facebook has given a platform to over 100 property ads promoting houses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Is the social media company Meta making big money by featuring these ads on the portal?
A report published by the news outlet Al Jazeera highlights concerns over Meta making profits from content that could possibly violate international laws surrounding the region. Among the ads were fundraising activities for Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units operating in Gaza. Some ads also called for the demolition of Palestinian homes, playgrounds, and schools.
When contacted, Meta told the news outlet that advertisements hosted on the platform were reviewed by its team before going live. Facebook's parent company has owned up that some ads that were featuring on the platform have been pulled down as they were 'violating our social issues, elections, and politics policies'. But nowhere has the company confirmed that ads promoting property in the West Bank breached any guidelines set by the company or international laws.
"We have robust processes and teams to review ads, and our ad review system is designed to review ads before they go live. This system relies primarily on automated technology to apply our Advertising Standards to the millions of ads that run across our apps, while relying on our teams to build and train these systems and, in some cases, to manually review ads," Meta told the news outlet.
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The properties advertised are flagship apartments by builders and flaunt luxury; 'jacuzzi, sauna, and cold plunge' are among the buzzwords used in the ads.
Professor Aoife O’Donoghue, an international law expert from Queen’s University Belfast, said, “On the West Bank, property can be privately bought and sold. However, whether they have the legal title to sell that land at all would be highly questionable."
She added, "If the Israeli government is facilitating it, and they are settlements, then they would be in violation of the Third Geneva Convention. Here, the Israeli government has a duty to prevent illegal settlements.”
