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1.

The 8th Edition of the Palestine Digital Activism Forum 2024 Concludes with 1,200 Participants from Across the World (English)

7amleh

The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, concluded the eighth edition of the Palestine Digital Activism Forum (PDAF) for this year on Wednesday evening. The forum, titled "Artificial Intelligence (AI): Revolutionary Promises & Discriminatory Realities," was held virtually over two days. The forum was attended by more than 1200 participants from around the world. It hosted 70 speakers, and saw collaboration with 50 partner organizations from around the world. Participants gathered in an open space for critical discussions and learning, coming up with ideas and proposals on how the development of AI must align with human rights standards, guaranteeing a safe, fair, and free digital space for everyone.

2.

Former Meta engineer sues company saying he was fired over handling of Gaza content (English)

Reuters

A former Meta engineer on Tuesday accused the company of bias in its handling of content related to the war in Gaza, claiming in a lawsuit that Meta fired him for trying to help fix bugs causing the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts. Ferras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer who had been on Meta's machine learning team since 2021, sued the social media giant in a California state court for discrimination, wrongful termination and other wrongdoing over his February dismissal. In the complaint, Hamad accused Meta of a pattern of bias against Palestinians, saying the company deleted internal employee communications that mentioned the deaths of their relatives in Gaza and conducted investigations into their use of the Palestinian flag emoji.

3.

No tech for genocide: Google must drop Project Nimbus and end its retaliatory actions against workers protesting it (English)

Arab Alliance for Digital Rights

e, the MENA Alliance for Digital Rights and the undersigned civil society organizations, stand united and resolute in support of the Google employees who bravely protested Project Nimbus as part of the “No Tech for Apartheid” campaign. We strongly condemn Google’s retaliatory actions against its employees and reiterate their demand for an immediate cessation of the company’s involvement in Project Nimbus, given Israel’s current war on Gaza and its human rights violations in the West Bank. Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government providing cloud computing services by Google and Amazon, has been implicated in Israeli operations that raise severe ethical, humanitarian, and human rights concerns. Details around Project Nimbus are obscure, but reporting on the contract and technology provided strongly suggests it is being used by the Israeli military, whose actions are currently under review by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the crime of genocide.

4.

Twitch draws pro-Palestinian influencers as rival sites back off politics (English)

The Washington Post

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of top content creators gathered at a sprawling sun filled studio for a day-long live stream aimed at raising money for relief efforts in Gaza. The content creators, who ranged from A-list YouTube stars, to Gen Z TikTokers, to first generation internet personalities, held a Top Chef-style competition, played charades, did improv with costumes and auctioned off goods. By the end of the day, they’d raised more than $1.5 million. With mainstream social platforms cracking down on political content, Amazon-owned Twitch has exploded as a hub for activism and political news coverage.