In 2023, 7amleh expanded its advocacy for digital rights in several significant ways. Its capacity-building initiatives have empowered over 1,700 individuals. 7amleh’s seventh PDAF (Palestinian Digital Activism Forum) attracted 1,500 participants to hybrid (virtual and in-person) activities. Media presence surged with 554 mentions in local and international publications. Social media posts on digital rights engaged 1 million individuals. Participation in global forums, webinars, and conferences showcased 7amleh's commitment to advancing digital rights discourse. In order to thoroughly record and examine violations of digital rights in 2023, 7amleh’s platform, 7or – the Palestinian Digital Rights Observatory, documented 4400 violations of digital rights. Additionally, 7or committed its resources and successfully secured, erased, or restored a total of 909 accounts or pages. 7amleh responded to the war on Gaza starting after the events of October 7th, 2023 by documenting online human rights violations, advocating for a ceasefire, raising awareness through reports and interviews, and launching the “Violence Indicator,” a linguistic model that is based on artificial intelligence to automatically monitor the spread of hate speech and violence targeting Palestinians in Hebrew-language on social media. These metrics represent 7amleh's relentless pursuit of a fair and free digital space for Palestinians and beyond.
Harmful content detected using the Violence Indicator
Digital Rights Violations reported to 7or
Interaction on Social Media
Video views on social media
Participants in various trainings
Palestinian Digital Activism Forum Attendees
Secured, erased and restored accounts
Organisational Assessmentsand Trainings on Digital Safety
Publications
Campaigns
Following October 7th, Israeli forces started a large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip committing numerous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. At the same time, digital rights violations were documented, where social media companies targeted Palestinians, particularly those who spoke out and documented the reality on the ground in Palestine. Many faced disproportionate and erroneous censorship, including account suspensions. This was compounded by draconian legislation by the Israeli government that targeted Palestinian citizens who use online platforms to speak up on human rights and voice their opposition to Israeli policies.
7amleh responded immediately by documenting digital rights violations through its platform, 7or - the Palestinian Observatory for Digital Rights. It recognized an unprecedented increase in reports of digital rights violations, leading the organisation to address those violations with social media companies. It often succeeded in retrieving wrongfully deleted content and accounts, as well as flagging for removal anti-Palestinian hate speech and incitement to violence in the Hebrew language.
7amleh, as part of a large group of civil society organisations, joined a call for an immediate ceasefire, including a ‘digital ceasefire’ on Gaza, and partnered in “Gaza Media Resources”, an open-access resource library reporting on human rights violations, including digital rights.
Additionally, in October 7amleh launched a real-time indicator of violent, hateful, and inciting posts on social media. The “Violence Indicator” is a linguistic model that uses artificial intelligence to automatically monitor the spread of hate speech and violence targeting Palestinians in Hebrew on social media platforms. By the end of 2023, 7amleh’s Violence Indicator detected and documented more than 3 million violent and inciteful posts in Hebrew on various social media platforms since October 7th. The violent content was dominated by hate speech and direct incitement for violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
The briefing “The Palestinian Digital Rights Situation Since October 7th, 2023” detailed violations of Palestinians’ digital rights and the urgent need for technology companies and international duty bearers to protect Palestinian human rights. Since October 7th, there has been a sudden and stark increase in censorship of Palestinians’ social media content and human rights advocacy, as well as hate speech and incitement to violence targeting Palestinians.
In response to the escalation following October 7th, 7amleh held four webinars with a total of more than 600 live attendees. The first webinar was “Privacy and Digital Security in Emergencies, Crises and Wars” discussing freedom of speech online and digital security during the current escalation. 7amleh’s second emergency webinar,“Mobilization and Advocacy in Light of Media Misinformation and During Wars and Crises” discussed the impact of misleading news on advocating for the Palestinian cause, as well as best practices for disseminating mobilisation/advocacy information during crises and wars. It also addressed the proliferation of hostility towards Palestinians and misleading, incomplete, and false information via social and other media platforms regarding Israel’s war on Gaza. Our third webinar “Palestinian Narrative and Digital Rights Shifts in Times of Crisis” was a response to the continuous escalations on Gaza, and was held on October 19th. This conversation with digital rights experts, Palestinian political analysts, and fact checkers, focused on understanding the current moment, and what online platforms must do immediately to contribute to the safety of all Palestinian people. The last emergency webinar of 2023, “Digital Resilience Amid Crisis: Observing Digital Rights Trends in the midst of War” addressed issues such as the impact of content moderation, the telecommunications outages in Gaza, and the European Digital Services Act impact on Palestinian Digital Rights.
In 7amleh’s 2022 annual report "Hashtag Palestine", 7amleh documented 1119 digital rights violations perpetrated by social media companies. Approximately 30% of the wrongfully deleted content we detected was successfully restored. The report goes beyond social media companies, examining digital rights violations committed by two governmental authorities: the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Authority.
In March, 7amleh published the "Racism and Incitement Index 2022", a report that meticulously documented the surge in hate speech against Palestinians published online in Hebrew, witnessing a staggering 10% increase from the previous year. X (Twitter) emerged as the primary platform for the dissemination of violent and inciting speech, accounting for 51%, followed by Facebook at 20%. The rise in online incitement and racism was notably correlated with on-the-ground events, such as elections and incidents involving the killing of Palestinians.
This report examines privacy and data protection in the Palestinian authority, addressing concerns about respect for privacy and personal data safeguarding by various entities in the occupied Palestinian territory. It highlights the absence of comprehensive privacy laws, an independent oversight body, and raises issues with existing legal codes that potentially compromise citizens' privacy rights.
The position paper offered a detailed analysis of the right to privacy in the occupied Palestinian territory. The paper explores ways to strengthen and institutionalise this fundamental human right.
This guide, educates individuals, the private sector, and governmental institutions on safeguarding Palestinians’ right to privacy.
This position paper reviews the Palestinian Personal Data Protection Decree draft, which addresses both procedural and substantive dimensions of personal data protection in Palestine. Based on the bedrock principles of the 2003 Amended Basic Law and relevant international conventions and standards, this paper delves into the commitment to embedding the rights of data subjects, weighing the accomplishments and pitfalls, and wraps up with a compendium of recommendations, a path forward to refining the legal landscape surrounding the right to privacy in Palestine, aiming for a more constitutional and human rights–centred approach.
This insightful position paper analyses from a human rights perspective the new Israeli law prohibiting the "consumption of terrorist publications." The analysis reveals clear violations of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, access of information, as well as discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel and preference for Jewish Israelis. The paper underscored the environment of escalating political repression faced by Palestinians in Israel and East Jerusalem, emphasising the law's potential 'chilling effect' discouraging political participation, freedom of expression, and other activities that oppose Israeli policies.
This position paper provides a comprehensive overview of the Israeli surveillance industry, focusing on its implications for Palestinians and its global repercussions. The report offered recommendations to mitigate the impact of surveillance on surveillance.
7amleh published “A Guide to Combating Digital Gender-Based Violence” to address digital gender-based violence by exploring strategies for combating and confronting it. Gender-based violence is one of the most widespread harmful practices in the digital space.
7amleh’s platform/project, 7or - the Palestinian Digital Rights Observatory, dedicated its efforts to meticulously document and analyse digital rights violations throughout the year 2023. 7or has documented a total of 4400 violations of digital rights, and committed its resources and successfully secured, erased, or restored a total of 909 accounts or pages. 1764 cases are still pending, as illustrated in this graph:
7amleh’s efforts have garnered positive feedback from partners and community underscoring the impactful work undertaken by 7or. Our commitment to transparency is evident through our routine reporting mechanisms: Weekly and monthly updates, as well as quarterly and annual reports, provide a reliable source of detailed insights into the violations we are recording. In response to emerging trends, special reports have been crafted, shedding light on increases in digital rights violations (see previous section).
An in-depth analysis by 7amleh revealed a concerning surge in inciteful speech against the Palestinian village of Huwwara on X (Twitter) between January and March 2023. This surge coincided with on-the-ground events and settler attacks against the village. The report documented a staggering 15,250 violent and inciteful tweets within a mere three-month period, highlighting the gravity of the situation.
Moreover, 7amleh disseminated supplementary articles addressing violent and inciteful posts in Hebrew, such as Palestinian Digital rights violations in War, which provide a holistic understanding of the challenges faced in the digital realm.
7amleh’s continual vigilance serves as a testament to our unwavering commitment to upholding digital rights, advocating for accountability, and fostering an environment where freedom of expression can thrive.
7amleh has been engaging with the United Nations and its Special Procedures, and as an ECOSOC member has contributed to submissions to both. With 54 other Civil Society Organisations, 7amleh co-signed a joint submission to the UN Global Digital Compact on targeted surveillance. 7amleh has participated in the UN Human Rights Pilot research on how human rights defenders and journalists in the Middle East and North and East Africa regions experience social media and messaging platforms. Furthermore, 7amleh participated in UNESCO’s “Internet for Trust” conference, and 7amleh’s Advocacy Manager participated in the UN Business and Human Rights Forum in Geneva in November discussing, amongst other topics, tech companies’ responsibility and liability in relation to human rights. 7amleh continues to follow up with submissions and information with the experts in UN Special Procedures, with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the Commission of Inquiry on Palestine, and other relevant parties.
7amleh has held various meetings with EU institutional stakeholders such as policy advisors and European parliament members. Relationships have been strengthened and foundations have been laid for future cooperation, all in line with 7amleh’s ongoing effort to provide a safe, fair, and free digital space for all.
Shortly after October 7th, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip incapacitated all of Gaza’s telecommunications capabilities, effectively cutting off all contact with the world outside of Gaza. Therefore, 7amleh joined the Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition in calling on the Egyptian government to take immediate action to restore Gazan communications. In addition, 7amleh, as part of the Arab Alliance for Digital Rights called for an end to the communications blackout shrouding human rights violations.
In its ongoing commitment to advocating for the protection of online spaces, 7amleh has actively engaged with prominent social media companies. Through a series of interactions and interventions, 7amleh has played a crucial role in addressing issues related to online human rights, emphasising privacy, and the responsible use of digital platforms.
In September 2023, 7amleh responded to Meta's 2nd annual Human Rights Report, urging Meta to fully implement recommendations from the BSR report In response to the discovery of Meta's AI tools’ dehumanising Palestinians and silencing their voices, 7amleh, through the Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition, issued a statement calling on Meta to cease such practices under the campaign "Meta, Let Palestine Speak" An investigation into Meta's Ads policy revealed under moderation, leading to a major story on The Intercept about Meta approving an extreme right-wing Israeli ad calling for the assassination of a pro-Palestine activist. Consequently, on November 21, 2023, 7amleh issued a statement calling on Meta to "stop profiting from hate".
Parallel to its engagements with Meta, 7amleh has maintained an active dialogue with Google to address pertinent digital rights issues. A significant concern brought to Google's attention involved YouTube propaganda ads, which explicitly promoted the war in a violent manner. However, 7amleh remains vigilant, emphasising the importance of a thorough human rights due diligence process.
7amleh published an analytical report outlining the volume, nature, and patterns of inflammatory and violent speech in Hebrew directed at the village of Huwara on X (formerly Twitter) in the beginning of 2023. This content contributed to on-the-ground attacks by settlers on Huwara villagers and their properties. Additionally, 7amleh had actively engaged with X, on violent and inciting language proliferating on the platform. Using the newly released Violence-Indicator, 7amleh documented over 3 million instances of such speech against Palestinians predominantly on X, in addition to other social media platforms, between October and the end of year 2023.
Throughout the year, 7amleh has maintained its steadfast commitment to advocating for Palestinian digital rights through the ongoing promotion of the PayPal4Palestine petition to provide Paypal services in Palestine. Furthermore, 7amleh produced a comprehensive update to the official PayPal4Palestine minisite 7amleh joined forces with partners to advocate for digital rights at PayPal's Annual General Meeting and also worked with Congressman Mark Pocan and launched a media campaign to raise awareness and promote advocacy on a global scale.
7amleh issued a statement condemning and warning against the Proposed Bill Allowing Facial Recognition Surveillance in public spaces, as this would encroach on digital rights, the right to privacy, and the right to peaceful assembly in general. The bill focuses on Palestinian towns within Israel, thus discriminating against Palestinians. The bill has not yet been passed as a law.
7amleh continues to coordinate in the local PDRC’s bi-monthly meetings, most recently discussing Palestinian digital rights issues and focusing on several Palestinian laws by decree on access to information, privacy and data protection, and media. These laws generally restrict rather than guarantee basic human rights.
The European-based PDRC is composed of 16 organisations advocating for Palestinian human rights at the European level. Regular roundtable discussions are accompanied by regular bilateral meetings for the purposes of coordination and strengthening the relationships. Many of the members of the European-based PDRC have actively participated in 7amleh’s campaigns such as “Meta, Let Palestine Speak!” campaign, which calls on Meta to end the over-moderation of Palestinian content in its many forms, and ensure protection and respect of Palestinian rights, “PayPal4Palestine” campaign that advocates to stop the discrimination against palestinians and provide PayPal services in Palestine, and the campaign to report digital rights violations to 7or
Similarly, the 20-member United States PDRC holds bi-weekly meetings to coordinate advocacy and campaign efforts targeting mainly social media and tech companies located in the US, such as Meta and PayPal.
Throughout 2023 7amleh has run several campaigns to raise awareness of the 7or Platform which documents Palestinians’ digital rights violations. Our June 2023 campaign included three videos focused on media personnel, youth, and women. Our second campaign in August 2023 supported the efforts of 7or. This collective endeavour seeks to empower advocates for Palestinian rights throughout Europe, encouraging them to share instances of digital rights violations they have encountered with 7or.
In August, 7amleh launched a public awareness campaign in Arabic throughout our social media channels focusing on the need of Palestinian Privacy and Data Protection, including easy-to-implement steps for Palestinians to better protect their privacy and data protection online. The campaign included three videos and five podcast episodes
On December 23, 7amleh launched a campaign to combat online gender-based violence against children and youth, addressing crucial aspects of online safety and digital rights awareness. Spread across 7amleh’s social media channels, the initiative is an ongoing effort to educate parents on effectively protecting their children in the digital realm. The campaign incorporates diverse media elements such as graphics and videos, designed to provide practical guidance to parents. Notably, several graphics and videos have been shared on platforms like Facebook.
The Digital Security Conference (January 2023), was organised by 7amleh in partnership with the Faculty of Modern Media at the Arab American University. It focused on the theme, "Privacy in the Age of Surveillance." Attended by more than 300 participants, including students, academics, journalists, and digital media experts from six Palestinian universities, the conference addressed key issues related to digital security and privacy. The event featured an opening ceremony, sessions on topics such as the future of Palestinian youth in digital spaces, digital safety for women, defence strategies against digital threats, and an expert session exploring the history of surveillance and the computerization of Arabic language and dialects.
In 2023, 7amleh launched extensive training programs centred on digital rights, security, and Digital Advocacy. A total of 1,744 participants, including university and school students who have directly benefited from these initiatives.
7amleh organised two impactful Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions on advanced digital security. The first three-day TOT involved 12 technically proficient participants in Bethlehem, West Bank in April. The primary objective of the training was to develop and equip participants with the necessary skills to conduct digital security audits and assessments for CSOs, and to qualify them to provide digital security training for organisations and individuals The second session was online and spanned four days in October, targeted specialists with tech backgrounds and focused on cybersecurity strategies and equipped the participants with essential skills. These initiatives align with 7amleh's commitment to enhancing the professional capabilities of Palestinians in digital security and fostering a secure digital environment.
In 2023, 7amleh assessed the digital security and advocacy needs of 39 Palestinian organisations and gave them specialised training and support according to their needs.
In 2023, a total of twelve sessions were held on the documentation of digital rights violations through 7or for activists, organisations, journalists, and students, training a total of 143 people (102 women, 41 men). The training focused on identifying different kinds of digital rights violations and documenting them correctly.
7amleh held two, four-day digital security trainings aimed specifically at the challenges parents and teachers face in August and November 2023. A total of 68 parents and teachers were trained in Jerusalem through these training sessions. Participants gained a deeper understanding of digital security concepts, enabling them to recognize potential threats and vulnerabilities.
7amleh, in its ongoing commitment to promoting digital rights and empowering activists, human rights organisations, and youth, organised a comprehensive digital rights training session in Ramallah in August 2023 training a total of 41 people. The training aimed to equip participants with a strong understanding of the legal framework, human rights, digital rights, international agreements, treaties, and the critical issue of digital rights violations, along with practical skills in documenting such violations.
In May 2023, 7amleh held a digital security, advocacy, and campaigning training for women, training a total of 25 women on digital security and advocacy issues. The training empowered women and women human rights defenders to carry out creative, online, and safe awareness-raising and advocacy actions and strengthened their digital security skills.
7amleh published a new educational initiative named “Manassa” an Arabic digital learning platform that serves as an interactive training space specialising in advocacy and digital media, designed for organisations, activists, and journalists, as well as anyone interested in gaining in-depth knowledge about these critical areas. The platform offers a range of features, including illustrated and interactive educational courses, regularly updated training guides, and the expertise of specialised trainers in their respective fields. With a user-friendly interface and free access, this platform aims to provide an effective and enjoyable learning experience.
The Palestine Digital Activism Forum (PDAF) has grown considerably from a one-day event with 200 participants in 2017, to a total of 1500 participants in the hybrid virtual and in-person activities with more than 100 speakers and trainers. According to one participant, “This is the third year that I have attended PDAF and I can honestly say that each year it gets better and better with great speakers who bring so much depth and analysis to each session. I'm very much looking forward to next year.” Recordings of the sessions remain available through a public YouTube playlist to be accessed.
Throughout 2023, 7amleh was mentioned or cited in the news a total of 126 times in Arabic and 428 times in English, including in renowned publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Guardian, the Independent, The Intercept, and AlJazeera. Nadim Nashif, 7amleh’s co-founder and Executive Director, was cited in USA Today’s piece on “Online hate surges after Hamas attacks Israel. Why everyone is blaming social media” (October 11, 2023), saying that X is “horrible at content moderation [...] Specifically, in Hebrew, they have nothing. Basically, you can write, ‘kill them,’ ‘rape them,’ ‘burn them’ – whatever you want. It's like an open stage for extremism.” The report also mentions that 7amleh has built and shared with X a lexicon of hateful and inciting terms in Hebrew in order to curb this kind of hate speech.
Similarly, in the Independent’s report on “Viral hate and misinformation amid Israel-Hamas crisis renew fears of real-world violence” (October 17, 2023), 7amleh’s Nadim Nashif is cited on the issue of hateful and inciting posts in Hebrew against Palestinians: “These tweets, classified as hate speech and incitement, can potentially translate into real-world attacks on Palestinians, as previously seen with incitement on the same platform, leading to organised attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian communities both in the West Bank and Israel.”
Additionally, the Middle East Eye reported on the Palestinian Digital Rights Coalition (PDRC)’s Call on Meta for an Audit of their content moderation techniques in regard to Palestine in “Israel-Palestine war: Call for Meta to end dehumanisation of Palestinians on its platforms” (November 7, 2023). The report cites the PDRC’s statement that “Palestinian content remains ‘disproportionately over-moderated’ on Meta’s platforms.''
In the course of 2023, 7amleh effectively engaged approximately one million individuals across its diverse social media platforms, reaching over 1.1 million video views in total. 7amleh also significantly expanded its base of followers across all platforms, making a remarkable surge of 86.7% on Instagram and 69.4% on LinkedIn. 7amleh effectively leveraged its control over social media platforms to extend its local and global reach, utilising these platforms as channels to disseminate knowledge on digital rights and security, articulating stances on political matters, and defending against digital rights violations in the digital sphere.
In the context of Human Rights Day, 7amleh co-organized the webinar “Gaza: Genocide and the Internet” with APC and SMEX on December 11, discussing human rights violations affecting digital rights. 7amleh’s Nadim Nashif spoke about “Palestinian Digital Rights in Times of War” at the Dutch Who’s Right Festival. In the 2023 RightsCon, 7amleh hosted two sessions: “How legislation in the EU can impact the Global South” and “Digital Rupture: dissecting and confronting online gender-based violence,” and was invited to participate in other various sessions and activities. 7amleh also participated in both the Pre-Stockholm Internet Forum (PreSIF) and the Stockholm Internet Forum (SIF). During PreSIF, 7amleh staff participated in a day of interactive workshops with Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) staff, and representatives from leading global digital rights organisations at SIDA Headquarters.
In the online Mozilla Fest, 7amleh hosted two sessions on “How Legislations in the EU Can Impact the Global South,'' discussing the consequences that an array of texts adopted by the EU regarding digital technologies will have on Palestinian digital rights and that of other vulnerable communities across the Global South, and “Coalition Building for Collective Digital Rights,” offering an insight into the usefulness of the three PDRCs created and coordinated by 7amleh in the global promotion and defence of Palestinian digital rights. In Europe, 7amleh spoke at EDRi's Privacy Camp in the workshop “Police partout, justice nulle part / Digital police everywhere, justice nowhere”, and at the Platform of French NGOs for Palestine’s conference in Paris about the multifaceted impact of surveillance in Palestine and the ramifications of this dynamic in Europe.