WAR ON GAZA: META SILENCING PALESTINIAN VOICES, SAYS HRW

Thu 18 January 2024:

7amleh, The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, says that since the war on Gaza began, Israeli authorities have been cracking down on Palestinians “for simply expressing their views or opinions on various online platforms, through a variety of measures including censorship, surveillance and arrests”.

The Palestinian digital rights group also said in a report that since October 7, Israel has introduced a “draconian legislation” to restrict freedom of expression and criticism of its actions in Gaza.

Social media platforms played a key role in facilitating what it called Israel’s oppressive measures, 7amleh said.

“The most notable measures included mass content removals and extensive ‘shadowbanning’ of users criticising Israel or posting in support of Palestinians. During Israel’s war on Gaza, these content restrictions and removals soared to unprecedented levels,” it noted.

“Users of Meta’s platforms, including journalists, activists, media pages and those simply documenting reality on the ground or posting in support of Palestinian rights were subject to account banning, content removal and other restrictive measures.”