NGO: Over 105 violations against Palestinian digital content documented in February
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Sada Social Center said it documented over 105 violations against Palestinian digital content in February 2023, adding these violations were distributed among the majority of global social media platforms.
In its monthly report issued on Saturday, Sada Social Center said it documented more than 105 digital violations on various social media platforms, where Palestinian accounts received several reports as violations of content policies. These violations caused restrictions on posting and access when publishing news related to Palestine and the deletion of dozens of accounts.
Despite the recommendations and outputs of reports that reveal Meta’s bias against Arabic content and its promise to stop its discriminatory policies, complaints about Meta’s targeting of Palestinian content are still at the forefront, with 89 violations on Facebook, 6 on Instagram, and one on WhatsApp.
Sada Social also documented 7 digital violations on Twitter, 1 violation on TikTok, and 1 on Clubhouse.
Social media platforms continue to censor the Palestinian media by restricting and deleting journalists’ accounts for posting news related to the Palestinian cause, as the Center monitored 61 of the total violations against the accounts of journalists and news outlets, which represent more than 58% of all violations.
Sada Social Center said February witnessed an escalation of incitement and hate speech against the Palestinians on official pages and accounts affiliated with the Israeli occupation government and its military in the occupied West Bank and its leaders. These incitements included threats and incitement to expel the Palestinians, demolish their homes, kill them, punish them, abuse them, and even wipe out Palestinian towns, the most prominent of which was the comment made by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich about wiping out the Palestinian town of Huwwara.
The incitements also included attacks by thousands of accounts against Palestinian activists’ and influencers’ accounts on social media and campaigns to report against pages and accounts providing Palestinian content.
The center said it documented over 35 posts that included incitement and hate speech against Palestinians: 31 on Twitter and 3 on Facebook.
The center called upon all those who are proficient in the Hebrew language to report any content that includes hatred and incitement against the Palestinians on Israeli accounts so that it can communicate with the platforms’ administrations to remove it.
It re-confirmed the need to report any violation of freedom of posting and restriction of the use of Internet space in Palestine.
The Center also confirmed the importance of documenting these violations based on the importance of being on digital platforms and conveying the Palestinian narrative like the rest of those around the world and respect for the freedom of expression and publication as a universal right guaranteed by all international conventions.
It is noteworthy that Sada Social Center is a Palestinian digital rights organization launched in 2017 to protect Palestinian narratives on social media platforms.
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.
In 2022, Sada Social Center documented 1230 violations against Palestinian content, including 805 on Facebook, 165 on Instagram, 96 on WhatsApp, 52 on TikTok, 26 on YouTube, 68 on Twitter, 1 on SoundCloud, 11 on Clubhouse and 6 on Telegram.
