Check out our digital rights weekly update

Google employees call for company to support Palestinians and protect anti-Zionist speech (The Verge/ English)

A group of Jewish Google employees called on the company to increase its support of Palestinians amid Israel’s deadly bombing campaign in Gaza. Read More

YouTube Removes Israeli Government-Linked Ad That Justified Bombing of Gaza (Vice/ English)

YouTube removed an ad that justified the Israeli bombing of Gaza after Motherboard contacted the company because the ad contained 'violent imagery.' Read More

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is in the trap of misinformation (MC Douliya/ English)

How can fake news be verified and what are the most prominent strategies used in spreading propaganda and fake news? Nadim Al-Nashif, Executive Director of 7amleh answers these questions in this radio interview. Read More

7amleh to Wattan: Social media have become a place for incitement and for systematic brutal attacks by settlers against Palestinians in Israel (Wattan/ Arabic)

Amidst the continuous systematic incitement against Palestinians on social media networks, 7amleh center continues its efforts to alert social media companies and document these violations. Read More

Israel: Lawyers call on Shin Bet to halt text message threats targeting Palestinians (Middle East Eye/ English)

Palestinians have received messages, reportedly from the Israeli intelligence agency, threatening them for taking part in protests in Jerusalem. Read More

Instagram, Twitter blame glitch for deleted Sheikh Jarrah posts (Al Jazeera/ English)

Instagram and Twitter have blamed technical errors for deleting posts mentioning the possible eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but data rights groups fear “discriminatory” algorithms are at work and want greater transparency. Read More

Is Facebook censoring posts about Palestine? (AJ+/ English)

The former executive at Facebook Ashraf Zeitoon says that Facebook is censoring posts about Palestine, like videos taken in the aftermath of the raid on Al Aqsa and that the Israeli government has been pushing the company to do it. Read More

Google Won't Say If It Will Update Its Blurry Maps of Gaza (Vice/ English)

Images of Israel and Gaza are now legal to distribute. But Google is still running outdated images on Maps, potentially hindering open source conflict researchers. Read More

Interview with Palestinian HRDs: The realities on the ground (Front Line Defenders/ English)

Mona Shtaya from 7amleh shed light on the Palestinain situation on the ground, what Palestinians need to support their struggle, and what the reality of the struggle is for Palestinians. Read More

Facebook apologises to PA after restricting Palestinian content (Middle East Monitor/ English)

The Palestinian Mission to the UK said on Facebook that it had "received a letter of intent from Facebook to resolve serious issues" relating to the silencing of Palestinian voices by the social media platform. Read More

Social justice slideshows are going viral on Instagram - here's what to remember about what they're sharing (The Independent/ English)

Online activism is spreading on Instagram, with more people sharing striking, vibrant graphics to inform their followers about the issues that matter, such as the Palestinian issue. Read More

Lies on Social Media Inflame Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (The New York Times/ English)

Misinformation has flourished on Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and other social media about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Read More

Palestinians threatened by digital monitoring, censorship: 7amleh annual Palestine report (The New Arab/ English)

The report, "#Hashtag Palestine 2020" by 7amleh provides an overview of violations occurring during a year in which Covid-19 turned Palestine upside down. Read More

Pro-Palestine censorship on social media is nothing new (Doha News / English)

Are social media apps censoring pro-Palestine content? The short answer is yes. The long answer is they’ve been doing this for a long time. Read More

Digital apartheid: Palestinians being silenced on social media (Al Jazeera/ English)

Social media companies, from Zoom to Facebook and Twitter, are reinforcing Israel’s erasure of Palestinians. Read More

Big Tech’s complicity in censoring Palestinians (TRT/ English)

Palestinians’ struggle to secure their digital rights is crucial in the face of mainstream media spin and collaboration of social media platforms with Israel to stifle their voices. Read More

Instagram and Twitter claim to have restricted pro-Palestinian content “by mistake” (Market Research/ English)

Reports have emerged of the removal of some posts, photos and videos, as well as the blocking of accounts on major social media of Palestinians facing eviction from the Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood. Both platforms stated that they have fixed this mistake. Read More

Activists overcome digital apartheid as social media continues censoring posts about Palestine (Roya/ English)

In recent years, social media platforms have become a new source of income for individuals, but has also become a lifeline for thousands who want to raise awareness about causes that are so regularly ignored by mainstream media, many of which have strategic political interests that do not match these 'struggles.' Read More

Instagram Censored Posts About One Of Islam’s Holiest Mosques, Drawing Employee Ire (Buzzfeed/ English)
The photo-sharing app mistakenly removed content about the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the site of clashes between Israeli police forces and Palestinian worshippers, after associating the site with terrorism. Read More

Dozens of complaints were registered by users about their posts related to the recent events of Sheikh Jarrah getting removed on big social networks including Instagram and Twitter (Digital Information World/ English)

With the on-going recent events in Sheikh Jarrah, Palestine, many people have chosen to speak about it. Like the same way George Floyd got justice because of his incident getting there on every social media platform shared by everyone, people are hoping that the same can happen for the people of Palestine. Read More

Social Networks accused of censoring Palestinian content (Columbia Journalis Review/ English)

Social networks are deliberately censoring Palestinian content by takedowns and account blockages. This increased since the eviction of Al Sheikh Jarrah Palestinian residents. Read More

Social Media Platforms Practice Digital Apartheid on Pro-Palestine Content (Tech this week/ English)

Pro-Palestine activists, who turned to the digital space for airing the horrible erasure of Palestinians, were sadly surprised to find their posts, photos, or videos removed or their accounts blocked. Read More

Digital rights group slams Israeli attempt to censor Palestinians on social media (Middle East Monitor/ English)

Sada Social has criticised Israel's attempt to "impose its hegemony on social media platforms" and censor content about the occupation state's ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood as well as its war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. Read More

Report: Twitter and Instagram say Palestinian content deleted due to “technical errors” (Soyacincau/ English)

Palestinians have tried to share protests at forced Sheikh Jarrah eviction on social media, but these posts have reportedly been removed, or their accounts have been blocked. Over 200 deleted posts and suspended accounts pertaining to content regarding Sheikh Jarrah, according to Mona Shtaya from 7amleh. Read More

Facebook, Instagram accused of bias by censoring Palestinian content (Arab News/ English)

Hundreds of social media users have accused Instagram and Facebook of removing content and accounts reporting on the Sheikh Jarrah violence. Read More

Sheikh Jarrah content takedowns reveal pattern of online restrictions in Palestine (The National News/ English)

Palestinians are increasingly reporting that their digital rights are being violated by social media platforms. Read More

Instagram, Twitter blame glitches for deleting Palestinian posts (Reuters/ English)

As Palestinians took to social media to protest pending evictions, some found their posts removed or their accounts blocked. Read More

Facebook shuts down Jordanian border protest group (Roya/ English)

Palestinian and Jordanian social media activists in Jordan were surprised that Facebook closed the "Yalla to the Borders" group, which was established with the aim of mobilizing demonstrations near the borders with the occupied Palestinian territories. Read More

Venmo is halting some payments referring to Palestine (Rest of World/ English)

A number of Venmo users say the payment app is stalling transactions for “Emergency Palestinian Relief Fund”. Read More

Activists Are Calling Out Social Media Companies for Censoring Palestinian Voices (Egyptian Street/ English)

Since the attacks on Palestinians in East Jerusalem and later, Gaza began, many activists have spoken out against ‘digital apartheid’, which refers to the online censorship of pro-Palestine content on social media. Read More