Meta: Israel-Hamas war: Meta changing how users can comment on Facebook, and more

In a reaction to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, social media giant Meta is temporarily changing users’ default comment settings on Facebook. In a blog post, the company explained that it’s making the change to “protect people in the region from potentially unwelcome or unwanted comments.”
Facebook’s temporary comment settings: How will it work
This new change will only allow users’ friends or “established followers” to comment on “newly created public Facebook posts”.Typically, anyone can comment on publicly viewable Facebook posts by default.
Apart from Israel, Meta didn’t specify the other locations or how many Facebook accounts would be affected by the change. However, the company said that the changes will apply broadly to “people in the region.”
The company also added that Facebook users, regardless of their location, will have the ability to limit their comments. The popular social media platform will even notify users for whom Meta enables this setting by default.

Additionally, the company also said that it’s making it easier for Facebook users to bulk delete comments. Facebook has even “disabled the feature that normally displays the first one or two comments under posts in Feed.”

Why Facebook is making these changes
As tensions surrounding the conflict continue to spill over onto social media, these changes are meant to reduce harassment and potentially toxic comments. Meta also said it’s rolling out its profile “lock” tool to Facebook users “in the region.”
This feature will help users hide some previously public parts of their profile and prevent non-friends from seeing a full-size version of their profile photos.
Meta also noted that the company’s content moderation practices have unfairly suppressed some accounts posting about the conflict. Users have also lately reported that they have been “shadowbanned” on Instagram for posting content about conditions in Gaza or calling attention to the effects of the ongoing conflict on Palestinians.