Meta’s Israel policy chief tried to censor pro-Palestinian Instagram posts

A former senior Israeli government official, now working as Meta's Israel policy chief, has reportedly pushed for the censorship of Instagram accounts belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – a group actively organising campus protests against Israel's ongoing military actions in Gaza as The Intercept published a detail report. 

According to internal policy discussions seen by The Intercept, Jordana Cutler, Meta’s head of Israel & Jewish Diaspora policy, flagged at least four SJP posts for review, alongside other content critical of Israel’s foreign policy. Cutler invoked Meta’s Dangerous Organisations and Individuals policy, which prohibits users from discussing a secret list of thousands of blacklisted entities. While the policy bans "glorification" of these groups, it is supposed to allow "social and political discourse" and "commentary".

It remains unclear whether Cutler's attempts were successful, as Meta declined to comment on what happened to the flagged posts. Cutler herself does not have the authority to remove flagged content, as a separate team is responsible for moderation decisions. However, experts expressed concern over the involvement of a senior official tasked with representing government interests in decisions that could impact user content.

"It screams bias," said Marwa Fatafta, a policy adviser at digital rights group Access Now, which consults with Meta on content moderation. "It doesn’t really require that much intelligence to conclude what this person is up to."

Meta did not respond to detailed questions about Cutler’s actions but stated that writing about her was "dangerous and irresponsible". Dani Lever, a Meta spokesperson, said: "Who flags a particular piece of content for review is irrelevant because our policies govern what is and isn’t allowed on platform." Lever added that it is common for Meta’s public policy team to escalate content they believe violates its guidelines. "Whenever any piece of content is flagged, a separate team of experts reviews whether it violates our policies."

Cutler did not respond to requests for comment, and Meta declined an interview request on her behalf.

Lever further criticised The Intercept, saying that its reporting "deliberately misrepresents how our processes work," though she did not provide specific details.

Government ties

Cutler joined Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, in 2016 after a lengthy career in the Israeli government. Her previous roles included work at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and as an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When she was hired by Meta, Israel’s then-Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, welcomed the move, calling it “an advance in dialogue between the State of Israel and Facebook.”

In interviews, Cutler has been open about her role as a liaison between Meta and the Israeli government, advocating for its interests within the company. In 2017, she told Calcalist, an Israeli business outlet, that Facebook worked closely with the Ministry of Justice and Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, on content removal. "We are not the experts; they are in the field," she said.

A 2020 profile in The Jerusalem Post described Cutler as “Our woman at Facebook,” representing Israel’s interests on the world’s largest social media platform. In an interview, she said her job was “to represent Facebook to Israel, and represent Israel to Facebook”. During a follow-up interview, she added that she acted as "a voice of the government" inside the company, ensuring Israel’s concerns were heard. When asked if Meta listened to her, Cutler responded: "Of course they do."

Meta has extensive government relations and lobbying operations globally, but few other countries have their own high-level representative like Cutler. While she represents Israel specifically, there is no counterpart for Palestinian viewpoints within Meta. Experts have raised concerns about this imbalance, especially in the context of discussions around Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Gazans.

"If Meta wishes to behave ethically, it must ensure that Palestinians also have a seat at the table," said Jillian York, Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Flagged content

Documents reviewed by The Intercept show Cutler pushed for the removal of an SJP post promoting a reading list featuring authors associated with two Marxist-Leninist groups: the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). While the DFLP was removed from the US State Department’s terrorist organisation list in 1999, the PFLP remains designated by both Meta and the US government.

A source familiar with Cutler's activities claimed she had also lobbied for the deletion of posts quoting the Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani, who was a spokesperson for the PFLP before being assassinated by Israel in 1972. Kanafani’s works are widely recognised globally, with his novella Returning to Haifa recommended last year on The Ezra Klein Show podcast.

Cutler is also reported to have lobbied for the removal of a post describing Leila Khaled, a former PFLP member involved in a 1969 hijacking, as “empowering”. Khaled, now 80, remains a prominent figure in Palestinian solidarity movements.

Records suggest Cutler regularly targeted SJP's Instagram posts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), alleging connections to violent protests. She flagged a news report about a confrontation at the university’s Gaza solidarity encampment in April 2023. Local reports described the protest as peaceful until pro-Israel demonstrators attacked it, injuring 15 people.

Mona, an SJP member at UCLA, said their Instagram account was periodically unable to post or share content, which the group attributed to Meta’s enforcement actions. SJP's Columbia University chapter also reported having its account deactivated in August, without explanation. The group claimed several posts quoting Kanafani were removed.

The Israeli government has strongly criticised groups like SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace, accusing them of importing terrorism to American college campuses.

Broader efforts

Records indicate Cutler has also sought to censor non-student content. After Iran’s missile attack on Israel in October, she flagged a video of Palestinians celebrating in Gaza. She is also reported to have flagged content from the Lebanese TV network Al Mayadeen following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Former Facebook Middle East and North Africa policy chief Ashraf Zeitoon described Cutler's actions as typical. "No one in the world could tell me that a lot of what she does is not an overreach of her authority," he told The Intercept.

Zeitoon, who left Meta in 2017, said Cutler’s role differed from that of other policy managers. “If I said I represented Jordan’s interests within Meta, I’d be fired immediately,” he explained. "None of us was ever hired to represent our governments."

BuzzFeed News reported in 2017 that Facebook staff had raised concerns about Cutler's role, specifically her efforts to label the West Bank as a “disputed” territory rather than “occupied”.

Zeitoon said it was unlikely that escalations flagged by Cutler received the same treatment as others. "My report goes to the top," he said, adding that he expected the same for Cutler’s reports, especially during Israel's ongoing war.

Comparisons have been drawn to Ankhi Das, Meta’s former policy head in India, who resigned in 2020 following accusations of bias toward India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party. Emerson Brooking, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said: "Meta is the communications platform for much of the world, but not every voice is heard equally."

Zeitoon added: "No governments have built a network of influence on Meta like Israel and India."

Cutler is not alone in cultivating ties between Meta and governments. Joel Kaplan, Meta’s head of operations in Washington, and Nick Clegg, its global affairs president, both have backgrounds in government. Many staff involved in Meta’s policy decisions come from agencies like the Pentagon and State Department.

As recently as 2023, Cutler’s name was floated as a potential head of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, which has been involved in using Meta platforms to monitor and discredit activists abroad. In June, Haaretz reported that the ministry targeted US lawmakers with fake Facebook and Instagram accounts promoting pro-Israel content, which Meta later removed.

Evelyn Douek, a content moderation expert at Stanford Law School, said Cutler’s interventions raised “extremely concerning” questions about Meta’s moderation processes.