Agencies-Gaza post
NGO records +63 violations against Palestinian content in July
Sada Social Center said it had recorded at least 63 attacks against Palestinian digital content during the past month, citing that these violations were dispersed among the majority of global social media platforms.
Once again, Facebook tags first in suppressing Palestinian content, stated the group in its monthly report published on Monday, as 50 violations were documented by the social media giant in July.
3 other violations were also reported on Instagram, 5 on Tik Tok, 3 on YouTube, and 2 on Twitter, Sada Social said.
These platforms mainly influenced the content and accounts that negotiated the Palestinian situation and the ongoing violations of the Israeli occupation.
The Center emphasized that these platforms continue their suppression of the Palestinian content and narrative, adding the platforms deleted/deactivated accounts of at least 17 journalists, the last offense against journalists was registered against Hisham Abu Shaqra, a Palestinian videographer based in the West Bank and Anadolu Agency cameraman.
Moreover, the Center said that Israel’s systematic policy of quieting Palestinian students in academic institutions, referring to the covert special unit of the Israeli police who arrested Maryam Abu Qwaider, a Palestinian pharmacy student at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, on May 12 during a vigil honoring Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, over her Facebook posts.
On May 19, the Israeli Central Court extended Maryam Abu Qwaider’s arrest an additional four days. On May 22, her arrest was commuted to a 2-week house arrest with a ban on engaging with social media.
On July 26, Israel’s Shin Bet and the Israeli police declared that Abu Qwaider published 10 social media posts expressing “incitement or sympathy with a terrorist organization,” opening her house arrest again with a ban on using the Internet and social media.
It is noteworthy that Sada Social Center is a Palestinian digital rights association launched in 2017 to defend Palestinian narratives on social media platforms.
In 2020 only, the Center recorded 1200 violations against Palestinian content, including 25 on Instagram, 10 on YouTube, 801 on Facebook, and 276 on Twitter.
However, in 2021, it recorded 1593 violations against Palestinian content, including 174 on Instagram, 16 on YouTube, 853 on Facebook, and 445 on Twitter.
