On 18 April 2024, the United Nations Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (otherwise known as the UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights), along with a number of UN Special Rapporteurs, sent letters of inquiry to Meta, X, Google and Telegram about their alleged involvement in facilitating human rights violations in the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The letters highlight the responsibilities of technology companies, especially social media platforms, in abiding by international law and best practices in situations of armed conflict. Given that the International Court of Justice has determined that the situation in Gaza merits a plausible and imminent risk of genocide, technology companies operating in the region must ensure they are prioritising the preservation of human life and human dignity. On 16 June 2024 these letters became public.

The UN Working Group has received information about “a number of alleged human rights violations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory since 7 October 2023, including increased criminalization, surveillance, harassment and attacks against individuals who are peacefully expressing dissent or advocating for Palestinian rights on social media”. The letter cites concerning allegations of the “proliferation of hate speech, incitement to violence, disinformation, and bias and systematic censorship of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian human rights voices and content”.

As part of their mandates, these independent experts are able to directly engage with governments and stakeholders, including companies, on human rights abuse allegations through various forms of communication such as urgent appeals, allegation letters, and other correspondence, addressing individual cases, general patterns, group-specific issues, or legislation and policies that may not align with international human rights standards. The Working Group and Special Rapporteurs also sent letters to the governments where these technology companies are domiciled, namely the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

The UN Working Group has asked that the companies clarify all cases of alleged harm brought to its attention, including by providing “detailed information as to the measures, including human rights due diligence, that your company has taken in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for adverse human rights impacts caused by your company’s products and services, or to which they may have contributed or be directly linked.”

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre also sent information requests to Google, Telegram, X (formerly Twitter) and Meta asking about their heightened human rights due diligence and affiliated actions for mitigating harm in December 2024. Google, Telegram and X ignored our requests, and Meta sent an overly general response. According to the letters, the UN Working Group also sent information requests to these companies over the years, a number of which have been previously ignored.

To date, Google is the only company that has publicly responded to the UN experts' request for information.

Update: Meta has publicly responded to the UN expert's request for information on August 29, 2024