NGO: 132 violations against Palestinian content on Social Media platforms in May
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Sada Social Center documented almost 132 violations and restrictions against Palestinian content on Social Media platforms in May 2022.
The Center monitored 132 violations, as Palestinian accounts received a number of content policy violations reports, which caused restrictions on posting, post reach and bans on posting news related to Palestine.
In a surprise move and a further restrict to reach the Palestinian user, Meta classified the Palestinian detainee in Israeli prisons and one of Gilbou’s six breakers, Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, as a dangerous individual on Facebook platform, and issued warnings to thoses who search for the name of the detainee on the platform.
In addition, Meta classified a number of Palestinian personalities and groups as “dangerous individuals or organizations.”
Israelis at Bar Ilan University collected signatures to expel Palestinian student, Bayan Maasarwe, from the university, after inciting her on social media platforms over her social media posts related to Jenin and West Bank raids.
On the Facebook platform, Meta deleted the accounts of those accused of carrying out the Elad operation, in addition to deleting videos, posts, and facts proving Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalist of Al Jazeera Shireen Abu Akleh, and attacking her funeral.
The Center noted that Meta was explicitly consistent with the “Facebook Law” approved by the Israeli Knesset in the first and second readings, which obligates media sites and social networks to delete content claiming to combat “incitement” and “terrorism”, and not to prejudice “state security, public security and individual security”.
This law aims to impose more restrictions on voices supporting the Palestinian cause and rejecting Israel’s occupation via social media platforms, which represents a serious threat to Palestinian digital rights, and works to hide the political content critical of the Israeli occupation authorities through the digital space, in addition to contributing in covering up their crimes and obstructing their accountability.
Palestinian news pages are still suffering from restrictions, Sada Social added, saying this obstruct their work and spread, especially when many terms and names related to the political situation are used. Most of these terms are classified under the ban algorithm as the center monitored the banning of many news posts due to the use of the name of Yahya Al-Sinwar, leader of Hamas movement in Gaza.
This indicates a lack of consideration for the specificity of the Palestinian cause and considering the mere transmission of the news an incitement to violence, which in turn hinders the dissemination of information and news, the Center noted.
The Center monitored violations against more than 64 accounts of journalists, news networks and activists, which represents more than 48% of the total violations of digital content during May.
The violations are distributed as follows: Facebook: 70 violations, Twitter: 5 violations, Instagram: 8 violations, YouTube: 13, WhatsApp: 42 violations belonging to news networks and journalists, Tik Tok: 5, and ClubHouse: 1 violations.
The Center confirmed the continuation of its relentless efforts to monitor violations against the Palestinian content and work to follow up on them with Facebook administration. it also appealed to civil society institutions to stand on their role in defending Palestinian digital rights that are violated daily and without any right.
In 2020 only, the Center documented 1200 violations against Palestinian content, including 25 on Instagram, 10 on YouTube, 801 on Facebook, and 276 on Twitter.
However, in 2021, it documented 1593 violations against Palestinian content, including 174 on Instagram, 16 on YouTube, 853 on Facebook, and 445 on Twitter.
It is noteworthy that Sada Social Center is a Palestinian digital rights organisation launched in 2017 to protect Palestinian narratives on social media platforms.
