Digital Rights Weekly Update: 27 February - 5 March 2026

Policy Insight:

For the past few years, we have warned repeatedly that Palestine was becoming ground zero for unregulated AI deployment, automated targeting systems, and harmful platform practices. This week, as regional war erupted, those warnings felt immediate. AI-assisted military analysis now operates alongside a surge of AI-generated videos and recycled footage spreading at scale. Disinformation is not incidental; it is deliberate and structural, amplified by algorithms that reward virality over verification and opacity over accountability.

What we are witnessing is the convergence we have long documented: militarised AI, platform manipulation, and data-driven governance reinforcing one another. Reporting shows Palantir Technologies embedded in the architecture tracking aid deliveries into Gaza, raising concerns about humanitarian systems doubling as data infrastructure. Meanwhile, proposals for biometric-linked digital wallets risk entrenching discrimination and external control within everyday financial life.

This is no longer only about censorship. It is about a technological architecture, tested in Palestine, that fuses surveillance, narrative control, and automated decision-making into a single system of digital power.

News Digest

NEW: Palantir's AI Is Already Playing a Major Role in Tracking Gaza Aid Deliveries

Drop Site

Palantir Technologies has a permanent desk at the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) headquarters in southern Israel, three sources from the diplomatic community inside the CMCC told Drop Site News. According to the sources, the artificial intelligence data analytics giant is providing the technological architecture for tracking the delivery and distribution of aid to Gaza. The presence of Palantir and other corporations—along with recent changes banning non-profits unwilling to give data to Israeli authorities—is creating a situation in which the delivery of aid is taking a backseat to the pursuit of profit, investment, and the training of AI products, experts say. “The United Nations already has a humanitarian architecture in place to step in during crises, abiding by humanitarian principles and grounded in international law,” UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese told Drop Site. “This profit-driven parallel system involving companies like Palantir, already linked to Israel’s unlawful conduct, can only be regarded as a monstrosity.”

X Suspends Revenue Sharing for Undisclosed AI War Videos

Digital Journal

X has suspended revenue sharing for 90 days for users who post AI-generated videos depicting armed conflicts without disclosing that the content is synthetic. The move comes amid the growing spread of misleading AI-generated videos related to wars, particularly in the Middle East, raising concerns about disinformation during crises. The platform stated that repeat offenders could face permanent removal from its monetization program and noted it will rely on tools such as Community Notes and AI-detection mechanisms to identify undisclosed synthetic media.

Gaza reconstruction draws questions on digital wallets, biometric surveillance

Biometric Update

The U.S. government has not officially endorsed any financial frameworks for Gaza. However, the Administration of Donald Trump, which has been overseeing Gaza peace efforts through its Board of Peace, has placed digital identity at the center of its own digital assets strategy. Last August, Treasury requested ideas on four technological pillars: application programming interfaces (APIs), AI, blockchain monitoring, and digital identity verification. Meanwhile, organizations such as the World Bank are already working on advancing digital wallets in the West Bank and Gaza. The Bank recently presented a conceptual model for integrating digital ID into fast payment systems through a portable Payments Identity Credential. It leverages verifiable credentials (VCs) and is built on a trust framework established among national ID authorities and fast payment systems. The paper, The paper, titled ID Meets Instant, is examined in depth here. According to UN and World Bank estimates, the financial sector in Gaza has suffered $14.2 million in damages between October 2023, when Israel’s attack stared, and January 2024. Over 90 percent of bank branches in Gaza were destroyed, while only three of the 94 ATMs are currently operational.

AI and surveillance: The Israeli technologies behind UK policing

First Post

A new report has raised concerns that UK police forces may be using Israeli-linked spyware technologies originally tested on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. While the allegations have not been independently confirmed, evidence cited in public procurement data suggests that several UK law enforcement agencies have active contracts with two surveillance technology firms — Cellebrite and BriefCam — both of which have faced international scrutiny for their connections to Israeli military and security operations. Officials in the UK Home Office and police forces involved have not confirmed or denied the specifics of these contracts. The claims, reported by Al Jazeera, highlight Britain’s growing reliance on foreign-made AI surveillance and data-forensics tools despite ongoing criticism of how such systems have been deployed elsewhere.

Ofcom urged to clarify if Palestine Action content should still be removed online

The Guardian

Human rights organisations, academics and writers have called on Ofcom to clarify what the high court ruling that the ban on Palestine Action was unlawful will mean for online platforms pending the home secretary’s appeal against the judgment. The Metropolitan police have said that officers will no longer arrest people at protests who express support for the direct action group. But the signatories of a letter to Ofcom say it is unclear what it will mean for platforms which have duties to remove terrorist content under the Online Safety Act. Open Rights Group, Amnesty International UK, Big Brother Watch, Access Now and others have asked the communications regulator to clarify whether platforms are still expected to remove content. They also want to know how new duties to remove terrorist content will be implemented and whether content can be restored if the government loses its appeal. Sara Chitseko, the pre-crime programme manager at Open Rights Group, said: “The UK’s vague definition of terrorism and legal duties under the Online Safety Act already risk content being wrongly defined as illegal and removed. Now there is additional confusion over whether tech companies are targeting and removing online content relating to Palestine Action.