Mere minutes after The Palestine Chronicle released the documentary ‘The Black Dress’, jointly produced with Friends of Palestine Network, social media companies began imposing restrictions on viewing the most comprehensive response to the New York Times allegations on December 28 that Palestinians committed mass rape on October 7.
Instagram and Facebook, in particular, deleted the documentary altogether alleging that it had promoted ‘dangerous organizations’.
Despite the fact that ‘The Black Dress’ refutes the allegations mostly based on Israeli sources, and without embracing the claims of any organization or entity, ‘dangerous’ or otherwise, META maintained its position, even after producers reinstated the content without referencing any organization by name.
“As far as META and other pro-Israel organizations are concerned, the truth is meant to be hidden for as long as possible or at least until Israel concludes its genocide in Gaza,” Ramzy Baroud, a Palestinian historian and co-producer of the documentary, said.
“In fact, this is why the documentary was released in the first place, to challenge such censorship head-on, and to present the Palestinian voice, long hidden because of media organizations such as The New York Times and social media platforms such as META.”
Romana Rubeo, also a co-producer and the presenter of the 18-minute documentary, said that such a decision by META “will not stop us from continuing with our work.”
“This is not the first time META and other social media platforms have done everything in their power to hide our voice, through shadow banning or direct censorship,” Rubeo said.
“We have always found alternative ways to communicate our contents because we will not give up on our mission to spread the truth and nullify mainstream propaganda,” she added.
The Palestine Chronicle calls on its readers and all independent media organizations and individuals interested in an alternative viewpoint to share the YouTube and other versions of the documentary as widely as possible.
“Free speech cannot only apply to one side and be completely denied to others,” Baroud said.
“Please help us spread the word,” he added.