Digital Rights Weekly Update: 3 - 9 April 2026

Policy Insight:

This week, we focus our message on the following reporting, which reinforces a reality we are increasingly documenting and examining in relation to how digital platforms as infrastructures shape and in many cases constrain Palestinian daily life. From the spread of organized crime narratives on TikTok to the criminalization of online expression, platforms are directly influencing safety, speech, and social community dynamics on the ground.

At the same time, structural barriers continue to limit Palestinian access to the digital economy. Despite significant infrastructure readiness, digital payments remain marginal, while platform governance, financial restrictions, and trust gaps further exclude Palestinians from meaningful participation. Even emerging alternatives reflect a response to censorship and data exploitation rather than genuine choice.

For 7amleh, this is a critical moment. Our ongoing work is increasingly focused on unpacking these platform-driven harms, from algorithmic influence to financial exclusion, to ensure that digital spaces serve Palestinians, rather than control them.

News Digest

On TikTok, Palestinians in Israel are a scroll away from organized crime

+972 Magazine

Last year, Palestinians accounted for 252 of the country’s 305 murder victims, despite making up just 21 percent of the population. The pace has not slowed: Since the start of 2026, 81 Palestinian citizens of Israel have been killed in incidents related to criminal networks, while four more have been killed by police. Protests against the spread of organized crime, which many see as a deliberate Israeli policy of inaction against the perpetrators, have been largely blunted by the recent war with Iran.  Now, the same criminal networks that instill fear in Palestinian neighborhoods project it onto phone screens. While some videos show young men firing weapons, much of this content rarely shows explicit acts of violence; instead, it relies on suggestion. A slow-motion shot of a Mercedes G-Class cruising beside a black motorcycle is paired with a looping line: “Abu Jourano does not joke, and the killing is getting closer.” In that grey area between suggestion and direct incitement, these clips can be framed legally as performance to help remain outside the bounds of prosecution.

Technical and Financial Expert Report for the National Awareness Campaign on E-Commerce, Digital Marketing, and E-Payments in Palestine

Palestine Economic Policy Research (MAS)

Digital payments have become a foundational pillar of modern economies, enabling financial inclusion, efficient commerce, lower transaction costs, and greater transparency. Globally, digital adoption has accelerated dramatically over the past decade, reshaping how consumers, governments, and businesses interact within financial systems. Yet in Palestine, despite major progress in building a robust payments infrastructure and advancing key legal reforms, the economy remains overwhelmingly cash-based: 94% of daily transactions are still conducted in cash, only 19–22% of adults regularly use digital payments, and around 85% of MSMEs do not accept electronic payments. This contrast reflects a widening implementation gap between institutional readiness and actual user behaviour.

He Started a Social Network Alone. Then 5 Million People Signed Up

Wired

Issam Hijazi launched UpScrolled after users alleged censorship on other platforms. Nine months later, its user base is soaring—while Hijazi tries to catch up with his own success. If you haven’t heard of UpScrolled before, a brief primer: It’s a social media platform not too different from, say, Instagram or TikTok. You can share photos or short videos, follow accounts, comment on posts, and amass a following of your own. Nothing too earth-shattering, right? UpScrolled founder Issam Hijazi would beg to differ. Indeed, his nascent company diverges from most Big Tech platforms in a few notable ways: UpScrolled offers an old-fashioned chronological feed, rather than one dictated by an algorithm ostensibly serving up content you’ll latch onto; the platform also promises not to share user data with marketing firms or other commercial enterprises. And Hijazi, who is of Palestinian descent, founded UpScrolled in response to widespread user allegations that some social media companies were censoring or shadow-banning their posts—particularly pro-Palestinian content. The platform explicitly vows “never” to covertly suppress content, provided it doesn’t violate UpScrolled’s community guidelines.

Civil society coalition presses UN on digital repression in MENA

Ifex

During the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media – participated in a joint regional advocacy mission to advance digital rights, protect civic space, and strengthen international attention to digital repression and technology-enabled human rights violations across the Middle East and North Africa. The mission was led by Innovation for Change MENA Hub in partnership with 7amleh, alongside participating organizations HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, SmarGov, and Wasl for Human Rights Tunisia. Held from 25 to 27 February 2026, the mission formed part of the Digital Democracy Initiative in MENA and aimed to bring regional evidence, policy recommendations, and lived realities into international human rights discussions. It sought to reframe digital repression not as a secondary technology issue, but as a core democratic governance and human rights issue affecting civil society actors, journalists, human rights defenders, and communities across the region.