Following reports that Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram was censoring pro-Palestinian content, the company says it has tweaked its algorithm.

The change, revealed today, comes after Facebook employees as well as Instagram users complained that content related to the recent Gaza conflict was biased against support for Palestine. For the most part, it’s believed the bias was a result of automated removal, although the credibility of Facebook in the Arab world has taken a dip.

The issues have led scores of activists over the last few days again to question how much power social media companies have in directing narratives on important events, with some groups asking for Facebook to define its relationship with the Israeli government.

Some of the content that has been censored would indeed arouse suspicion, although Facebook has blamed technical glitches rather than human bias. “While these have been fixed, they should never have happened in the first place,” a Facebook spokesman said. “We’re so sorry to everyone who felt they couldn’t bring attention to important events, or who felt this was a deliberate suppression of their voice.”

Instagram stated that the algorithm features original stories over re-shared content, which is one reason why some posts may not have gotten much attention. The company said this had a “bigger impact than expected” and was not, as some people said, a form of censorship.

“It’s also caused people to believe we were suppressing stories about particular topics or points of view,” Instagram said. “We want to be really clear, this isn’t the case.” The company added that any re-shared story, never mind what it’s about, may be downgraded for original content. The company says it’s now working on a way to keep giving people original stories while also not suppressing re-shared content.

Meanwhile, Facebook has experienced a drop in popularity in the Middle East, especially in Qatar, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. Facebook polls users on their experience, with the results showing that since from since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, popularity in the Middle East and North Africa has dipped to an all-time low.

“Users are feeling that they are being censored, getting limited distribution, and ultimately silenced,” a senior software engineer wrote on a Facebook internal message board. “As a result, our users have started protesting by leaving 1 star reviews.”

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