Meta employee sues company, says he was targeted for Gaza solidarity
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that the social media conglomerate Meta discriminated against a Muslim employee for his religious beliefs and his expressions of solidarity with civilians living in Palestine.
Mohammed Feras Majeed, the former Meta employee, said that his faith calls him to look out for those who are facing struggles.
“Everything that I do, I try to connect it back to the community,” said Majeed in a KXAN interview Thursday. “When this incident started to unfold in earnest since Oct. 7, [2023], I couldn’t hold myself back, right? That’s something that’s just me. That’s part of what Islam teaches me.”
KXAN reached out to Meta for comment on Tuesday. We have not received a reply.
Majeed’s lawsuit describes what his solidarity for Palestine looked like. From his account, his actions were similar to his co-workers’ support for civilians in Ukraine and Israel. However, it would earn him a reprimand “for posting disruptive topics,” according to the lawsuit.
“Plaintiff’s non-Muslim colleagues were permitted to express support and sympathy for Jewish victims and other global crises without censorship, including posts condemning antisemitism, expressing support for Israeli hostages, and sharing personal stories related to the October 7 attacks,” the lawsuit reads, “This disparity highlights Meta’s selective and discriminatory enforcement of its policies against Plaintiff and other Muslim employees.”
Majeed said that before October 2023, he felt supported and heard by his colleagues and managers. But amid the Israeli invasion of Gaza, he felt isolated.
“I really felt alone because, again, I was just being my authentic self, talking to people, talking to my manager about what I’m feeling, what’s going on in the world, and it didn’t feel like I was forcing this onto anyone,” he said. “It just felt like the natural thing to do, based on my five, six years of experience with the company.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, help Majeed to prepare and file his lawsuit.
“They’ve been standing up for human rights, standing up for the rights of Muslims for several, several years, and their team has been like the best of the best in every every step of the way,” he said.
The initial lawsuit filing can be read below:
CAIR and Majeed have asked for a jury to hear his case.
This isn’t the first lawsuit against Meta brought by a Muslim employee involving Palestine. A June 4, 2024 lawsuit reported by The Guardian, involved an engineer who claimed Meta fired him for trying to fix a bug he said was suppressing Palestinian’s posts.
