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Digital Rights Weekly Update: 16 - 22 August

2024-08-23

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7amleh Releases Study on Digital Security Among Palestinian Youth in Light of the War on Gaza 

an excerpt from 7amleh

7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media has published a new study titled "Digital Security Among Palestinian Youth: A Study on Threats and Challenges in Light of the War on Gaza" written by Dr. Saeed Abu Mualla, a writer and lecturer in journalism at the Arab American University. This study highlights the digital security landscape for Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Jerusalem by tracing the digital experiences of Palestinian youth aged 15 to 30. The study comes at a sensitive time, as the region suffers from the escalating impact of the ongoing war on Gaza since the events of October 7, 2023, which has prevented the inclusion of Gaza in the study. 7amleh will soon publish a similar study on the digital security of Palestinian youth citizens of Israel.

 

War on Gaza: Palestinian youth self-censoring online for fear of repercussions

an excerpt from Middle East Eye 

A new report reveals that since Israel’s war on Gaza began, young people in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have scaled back social media use out of fear of potential repercussions. The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, also known as 7amleh, detailed the digital security situation for Palestinians aged 15 to 30 in the occupied territories showing that 39 percent of respondents deleted political and social posts out of fear. Additionally, 50 percent of users reported that platform restrictions, including shadow banning by Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), had led them to reduce their online activity. The report also says that half of the users have either been questioned by Israeli security agencies or know of others who have faced similar scrutiny due to their social media posts. 

 

 

Israel's war on Gaza forces young Palestinians to limit digital activity amid fears of assault 

an excerpt from The new arab 

Young Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have scaled back their digital activity since Israel’s war on Gaza began, to avoid assault and intimidation by Israeli forces, a study by the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, also known as 7amleh, has found. The move to "self-censor" comes amid Israel's onslaught on Gaza and was described as a "troubling" aspect of the digital reality of Palestinians in the study, entitled Digital Security Among Palestinian Youth: A Study on Threats and Challenges in Light of the War on Gaza'.

 

Meta struggles with moderation in Hebrew, according to ex-employee and internal documents

an excerpt from The guardian

Meta has system for evaluating the effectiveness of its own moderation for Arabic language content but not Hebrew Kari Paul Thu 15 Aug 2024 12.00 BST Share Meta is struggling with moderating content related to the Israel-Palestine war, particularly in Hebrew, despite recent changes to internal policies, new documents have revealed. Internal policy guidelines shared with the Guardian by a former Meta employee who worked on content moderation outline a multilayered process for moderating content related to the conflict. But the documents indicate Meta, which owns the platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, does not have the same processes in place to gauge the accuracy of moderation of Hebrew content and Arabic content.

 

 

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