Digital Rights Weekly Update: 11 - 17 April

Meta Must End The Systematic Censorship Of Palestinian Content Globally

7amleh

The revelations published by DropSite News confirm what we, at 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, have long warned: that Israeli authorities are orchestrating a mass censorship campaign in direct coordination with Meta to silence pro-Palestinian voices across the world. According to internal data from Meta leaked by whistleblowers, Meta has complied with 94% of take-down requests issued by the Israeli government since October 7, 2023, resulting in over 90,000 immediate content removals and tens of millions of additional posts suppressed or actioned via automated systems. According to the leaks, these takedown requests overwhelmingly targeted users from Arab and Muslim-majority nations, however, users from over 60 countries have reported censorship of content related to Palestine, highlighting the extensive international reach of Israel’s censorship efforts and Meta’s compliance creating the largest mass censorship operation in modern history.

Israel using AI chatbot 'Genie' to carry out military operations in Gaza - report

The New Arab

Israel has begun operational deployment of a military-grade artificial intelligence chatbot named Genie, a system now used by commanders to make battlefield decisions in Gaza. Far from a neutral technological upgrade, Genie represents the accelerating use of AI in warfare - automating decisions that carry life-and-death consequences in a conflict where Israel already faces credible accusations of genocide. According to reports in Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet on Tuesday, the chatbot is modelled on ChatGPT but integrated into Israel's private military networks. Officers can type natural-language queries and receive detailed, real-time responses from the army's massive operational cloud. The tool is already in use in all Israeli military command centres and is being applied during live operations in Gaza.

Leaked Data Reveals Massive Israeli Campaign to Remove Pro-Palestine Posts on Facebook and Instagram

Drop Site

A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed suit—widening the net of posts it automatically removes, and creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history. Government requests for takedowns generally focus on posts made by citizens inside that government’s borders, Meta insiders said. What makes Israel’s campaign unique is its success in censoring speech in many countries outside of Israel. What’s more, Israel's censorship project will echo well into the future, insiders said, as the AI program Meta is currently training how to moderate content will base future decisions on the successful takedown of content critical of Israel’s genocide.

Meta's Gaza AI Moderation System's Basically Trained on Israeli Requests

Inside Telecom

Freshly released information proved that Meta censoring Palestine took down more than 90,000 posts in response to Israeli TDRs, typically within a mean of merely 30 seconds since Israel launched its strike on Gaza on October 7, 2023. Once the violence intensified, the Mark Zuckerberg Israel tight connection intensified its automated censorship rules, according to reports, resulting in nearly 38.8 million additional posts being “actioned upon” on Facebook and Instagram since late 2023. In Facebook terms, “actioned upon” refers to posts being taken down, banned, or having their visibility reduced. While normal users may report posts through the default reporting mechanism typically filtered by AI in Israel Gaza war by governments and organizations, they are offered special access to reviews. These are filtered based on human moderators and have a better chance of resulting in content takedown. 

Why is evidence of  Israel’s war crimes in Gaza disappearing?

ALJAZEERA

Israel’s siege and tech censorship are erasing evidence of Gaza’s war crimes faster than they can be saved. Many of the images that have been seen from Israel’s war in Gaza have already been seen for the last time. With Gaza under siege from the Israeli military and tech companies censoring and taking down material, the responsibility falls on the people of Gaza to document and archive their own evidence of war crimes and genocide. How will it survive?