7amleh: Two-thirds of Palestinian youth are afraid to express political opinions online
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- A new research has shown that two-thirds of Palestinian youth are afraid to express their political opinions online because they have had their content removed from online platforms, experienced harassment, or were interrogated in relation to what they posted on social networks.
The research, “Silenced Net: The Chilling Effect among Palestinian Youth in Social Media,” which was made by the Arab Center For the Advancement of Social Media (7amleh), stated that the current legal, political and social environment is having a significant impact on the political activity of Palestinian youth on the internet.
Thee research concluded that 2/3 of Palestinian youth are afraid to voice their political opinion online, while 1/3 Palestinian youth are punished by their families for sharing their political views.
Palestinians are subject to repression of several authorities including the occupation state, who routinely uses Palestinians private information from social media in their surveillance, interrogations, arrests and prosecutions, the Palestinian Authority, who routinely arrests political opponents based on opinions published on social media platforms, and social media platforms itself, which target the Palestinian content.
As a result Palestinian youth are self-censoring after seeing family, friends and journalists arrested.
