RAMALLAH, Wednesday, November 1, 2023 (WAFA) - Sada Social watch group said that it has monitored over 11,000 digital violations of Palestinian content across various social media platforms in October 2023, including personal and public account deletions, access restrictions, content removals, and live broadcast bans.
During October, Sada Social observed alarming indicators of digital attacks targeting media institutions, comprising 45% of these violations. These violations include the deletion of their pages and restrictions on different platforms, precisely when Palestinians, and especially Gazans, need urgent and essential access to information amidst the current aggression.
In addition to these violations, various media organizations and fact-checkers have faced cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting or hindering their work, such as Al Jazeera Media Network and Eekad for fact-checking.
These violations extended across different social media platforms, including Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Messenger), Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat. Moreover, these violations targeted not only Palestinian users but also involved more than 20% of the complaints to Sada Social from Arab, and pro-Palestine users.
Sada social monitored incitement to Kill Palestinians, including explicit calls and satirical comedy on Gaza’s blood.
Throughout October 2023, Sada Social tracked over 20,000 inciteful contents, encompassing terms, phrases, images, videos, and various forms of incitement on social media platforms.
Firstly, official Israeli entities and settlers explicitly and directly called for the killing and extermination of Palestinians and Arabs, as well as the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
They called for the prevention of any water or medicine from entering Gaza, constituting 40% of the inciteful content directed against specific individuals.
Groups of settlers have shared images of Palestinians and Palestinian businesses, which settlers subsequently attacked in the West Bank, targeting Palestinians and their properties. This has led to the killing of seven Palestinians in the West Bank by settler gunfire, as well as the closure and destruction of at least four Palestinian businesses, accompanied by the expulsion of over 500 Palestinians from their homes, according to B'tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Secondly, more than 270 threats were directed towards Palestinians through messaging applications and SMS messages, with 95% of these threats targeted at Palestinians in the West Bank. These threats included death threats, disclosure of the user's Palestinian address, and threats of persecution. These messages were primarily directed at activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.
Thirdly, videos that mocked the victims in Gaza were shared to make fun of their suffering and to create satirical content in both Hebrew and English. These videos were predominantly found on Instagram and TikTok. While some of these videos were removed after Sada Social contacted the platforms, many accounts remain active as they "do not meet the platform's criteria for disabling accounts."
Fourthly, campaigns known as "Bollywood Representatives" aimed to cast doubt on the massacres and crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. This was done by sharing images of civilian casualties in Gaza, labeling them as "Bollywood actors," and asserting that these crimes are fictitious and only exist in the Palestinian imagination.
Fifthly, activists and Palestinians in the occupied territories and Jewish individuals opposing the Israeli aggression on Gaza have been pursued and filmed in universities and public places demonstrating solidarity with Gaza. This footage was sent to Israeli authorities, who proceeded to arrest them under emergency law, like in the case of the Palestinian artist Dalal Abu Amneh, who resides in Canada. In certain European countries, authorities imposed bans on displaying any form of support for Palestinians. Some journalists and activists lost their jobs for expressing support for Palestine, like Palestinian journalist Zahraa al-Akhras, who lives in Canada.
Sixthly, official Israeli and foreign entities disseminated false and misleading information regarding the Israeli aggression on Gaza. Sada Social has identified over 160 pieces of false information that contributed to covering the Israeli aggression on Gaza, justifying civilian casualties with these misleading facts.
Furthermore, Sade social monitored serious violations of user privacy. It received grave complaints concerning Meta's violation of user privacy through its private messaging applications (WhatsApp and Messenger) by activating algorithmic systems on Messenger that restrict users from sending messages "contrary to Meta's community standards" in private conversations or even deleting some messages after sending them. While both Messenger and WhatsApp are known to be encrypted, Meta, as a company, can't interfere in them (end-to-end encrypted).
During October, there was an escalation in WhatsApp-based violations, with over 170 numbers banned from use by over 90% of the users who are Gaza-based journalists. This directly impacted their lives, given the network shutdowns and the digital blackout in Gaza, where only a few journalists managed to secure alternative sources of foreign internet access.
It's important to note that the internet has become the sole alternative means of communication, said the watch group.
Sada Social emphasized that these measures work to obscure the Palestinian narrative and the digital memory of people. “These actions represent a major hindrance to accessing the truth and spreading rumors and false news that find fertile ground during wars. Furthermore, these actions grant Israel the authority to narrate the course of events from its perspective. Restricting access to digital information and banning content distribution on the war's affected side is no less.
T.R.
