Censoring Palestine: Swarms of Israeli Bots Are Crippling Pro-Palestinian Twitter Accounts – MintPress

"Some suggest it’s a means to degrade the algorithmic quality of a Twitter account so that it possibly gets suspended; some suggest it’s others trying to boost popularity of an account. When it’s unsolicited, as in this case, I tend to think it’s more of a targeting operation. I am naturally cynical, but most people who get a sudden influx of fake followers feel unnerved and uncomfortable. If that fact is widely known, it functions as a tool of surveillance and potentially intimidation (e.g., you are being watched). It also makes many people mute their accounts for a bit which has a censorship effect.”

#Twitter #Intimidation #bot
#Censorship #Surveillance

Israel’s digital apartheid is silencing Palestinians - 2021

Numerous reports stating that Israel has established an apartheid system according to all recognised standards. This is effectively what Palestinian organisations have been saying for decades now, as such a system is based on the dominance of one people over another, the systemic oppression of one people by the other, as well as committing inhumane acts by one people against the other.

Palestinian human rights organisations have documented and publicised all such violations for decades, both locally and internationally. For over 70 years, Palestinians have been subjected to the most horrifying violations of their human rights, including depriving them of the right to freedom of movement and the right to education, in addition to the demolition of their homes and the imprisonment of over 1 million Palestinians in the span of 40 years, including women and children.

#Apartheid #Palestine #censorship

🇵🇸 Meta: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content | Human Rights Watch –

Meta’s content moderation policies and systems have increasingly silenced voices in support of Palestine on Instagram and Facebook in the wake of the hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 51-page report, “Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” documents a pattern of undue removal and suppression of protected speech including peaceful expression in support of Palestine and public debate about Palestinian human rights.

Human Rights Watch found that the problem stems from flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, overreliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals.

#Palestine #SocialPlatforms #Meta #Facebook #Instagram #Censorship
21/21/2023 #Report

Meta: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content | Human Rights Watch –


#Report #Censorship #Facebook #Instagram #Meta #SocialPlatforms
https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2023/12/ip_meta1223%20web.pdf

🇵🇸 What it's like to live in Germany as a pro-Palestinian | Witness Documentary

Berlin-based lawyer Nadija Samour and her colleagues fight against the suppression of Palestinian voices in Germany.

Throughout 2023, they have defended constitutional rights in the face of growing prejudicial policies and bans on all things Palestinian.

Since October 7, 2023, authorities have further clamped down on Palestinian activism in #Berlin but Nadija will not give up her struggle for Palestinians.

Palestine: Banned in Berlin is a #documentary by Nahed Awwad and Mariam Shahin.

#Activism #Diaspora #Censorship
04/01/2024

🇵🇸 " The looting and seizure, as far as I found, started in the 1930s in a systematic and organised manner ... by #Haganah forces [#Zionist paramilitary group]. The seizure intensified, of course, with the #Nakba in 1948. I found materials taken in 1967, 1982, 1991 and ... in the last few years."

What begins with #looting and appropriation, continues with a system of censorship and historical revisionism in the archives. The origin of Palestinian material is often erased and replaced with terminology that fits the archivist's world view.

"I saw photos with comments and notes written on them by the censors and archivists. For example, Palestinians are described as 'terrorists', as 'gangs'. Seeing all of that taught me about how the materials go through a process of rewriting to aid or benefit the Zionist narrative," says Sela. "You see a place where the materials are being censored and erased from the public sphere."


#Palestine #History #Heritage #HistoricalHeritage #Censorship #Archives

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🇵🇸 Palestinians see the #censorship as part of a wider trend of physical and #cultural erasure that began in 1948 and has continued ever since. Concealing the archival record denies them the tools to communicate their own #history, what the Palestinian intellectual and literary theorist #EdwardSaid called "permission to narrate."

"The fact that these #documents have been taken away from Palestinian hands is a sign of contempt for Palestinian history," says Yazbak. "It's an attempt to suggest Palestinians have no history, no documents, no belongings."

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🇵🇸 Free Speech Under Fire: How Israel’s Tech Guard Is Killing Free Speech Online | Mintpress

Entitled Israel Tech Guard, the coalition of Israeli tech employees has pulled together what it’s termed an “army” of citizen volunteers primarily to defend Israel’s image online. The group has launched or collaborated on several projects aimed at targeting pro-Palestine content while boosting Israeli propaganda.

Israel Tech Guard comprises over 250 Israeli tech workers and was founded by entrepreneur Mor Ram-On, who worked for Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems(#RADFS); Ron Balter, a software engineer at #Cybereason, a U.S. cybersecurity firm, and who served with the Israeli navy; and Lior Mizrahi, who heads the IT company #Maveriks.

Via @mintpress
#Apartheid #Censorship #Palestine #FreeSpeech #IsraelTechGuard #Propaganda #Hasbara

🇵🇸 Palestinians Say Microsoft Unfairly Closing Their Accounts | Slashdot

Ancient Slashdot reader Alain Williams writes: Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning -- cutting them off from crucial online services. They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers -- and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza. Microsoft says they violated its terms of service -- a claim they dispute. He also said being cut off from Skype was a huge blow for his family. The internet is frequently disrupted or switched off there because of the Israeli military campaign - and standard international calls are very expensive. [...] With a paid Skype subscription, it is possible to call mobiles in Gaza cheaply -- and while the internet is down -- so it has become a lifeline to many Palestinians.

#Palestine #Microsoft #Skype #Censorship #email #OPT #Gaza