Digital Rights Weekly Update: 30 May - 5 June

Germany Is Using AI to Erase Pro-Palestinian Speech

Jacobine

Jacobin highlights how Germany is employing artificial intelligence to suppress pro-Palestinian voices under the guise of combating antisemitism. The piece details the cancellation of a planned lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and Forensic Architecture founder Eyal Weizman at Berlin’s Free University, following political pressure from Israeli and German officials. Despite relocating the event to the offices of the left-wing newspaper Junge Welt, it proceeded under heavy police surveillance, raising concerns about academic freedom. The article criticizes the use of AI-driven projects like "Decoding Antisemitism," arguing that such initiatives conflate legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, thereby stifling dissent and undermining democratic discourse. This approach, the article suggests, reflects a broader trend of using technology to enforce political orthodoxy and silence opposition to Israeli policies.

"You are killing people in Palestine!” CODEPINK and No Tech for Apartheid Disrupt Google at AI+ Expo

CodePink

Activists from CODEPINK and No Tech for Apartheid disrupted Google’s “Responsible AI” presentation today at the AI+ Expo to expose the company’s hypocrisy in promoting ethical artificial intelligence while enabling genocide in Gaza and surveillance in occupied Palestine. Following that disruption, they were also able to disrupt former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Disrupters called attention to Google’s $1.2 billion cloud computing and AI contract with the Israeli military, known as Project Nimbus, which provides advanced technology used in military operations against Palestinians in Gaza. Protesters denounced the company’s involvement in a genocide facilitated by AI infrastructure.

Oracle allegedly suppresses Pro-Palestinian voices & cuts charity support amid TikTok takeover bid

BHRRC

Sixty-eight Oracle employees signed an open letter last year criticizing the company’s partnerships with Israel. Many have also raised alarms about what they said were biases in certain company programs, including the removal of avenues for staff to donate money to pro-Palestinian causes. According to multiple Oracle staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their livelihoods, one employee was terminated for allegedly violating the company’s branding and Slack policies after they created a combined Palestinian Oracle logo on a watermelon — a symbol of Palestinian solidarity — that was posted in a Slack channel and put on social media.

Programmed Genocide and Artificial Intelligence in Gaza

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been waging an exceptional war on Gaza, with continuous and intensive targeting of civilians, buildings, and vital facilities in the Strip, resulting in unprecedented destruction. To achieve its genocidal plan in Gaza, Israel has relied, as usual, on the military, material, and political support of its natural allies, particularly the unconditional support of the United States, European countries, and some Arab countries. However, achieving this exceptional scale of destruction would not have been possible without Israel's use of advanced military and war applications, particularly the ugly face of artificial intelligence. Benjamin Netanyahu and his army have thus launched a modern and advanced war based on the annihilation of Palestinians, utilizing the killing and destruction applications provided by artificial intelligence to implement the project of eliminating the Palestinians, which is deeply rooted in the Zionist ideology.