Digital Rights Weekly Update: 4 -10 April

Blurring The Lines Between Tech Innovation And Digital Militarization

ANANKE

In modern warfare, control over digital infrastructure has become as critical as control over physical territory. Recent investigations have largely exposed how Israel has abused BigTech to commit war crimes in Gaza, Palestine. Big Tech has played a decisive role in enabling and enforcing digital repression—from AI-driven military targeting to widespread internet shutdowns. A series of reports, including one from The Associated Press (AP), have confirmed that Israeli forces are using artificial intelligence and cloud computing systems—provided by U.S. tech giants—for mass surveillance and indiscriminate killings of Palestinians. This siege has exposed the increasing role of Big Tech in warfare, surveillance, and digital repression, setting a dangerous precedent for the future.

Gaza: Genocide in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Global Surveillance

Palestine Chronicle

The violence is no longer only material. It is performative. Israeli soldiers film themselves on TikTok while looting homes in Khan Younis and Gaza City, grinning beside wreckage, parading stolen belongings like trophies. Videos show them laughingly demolishing homes, bulldozing orchards, torching libraries, mocking the dead, sometimes urinating in sacred spaces. Gravestones shattered. Olive groves uprooted. Heritage sites obliterated. The violence is not just genocidal; it is desecratory. It seeks not only to kill, but to humiliate, to erase any trace of continuity, dignity, or return. The tools of this destruction are not merely tanks and rifles. They are satellites, databases, and machine learning models. Artificial intelligence systems sift through terabytes of metadata to produce “kill lists.” Targeting decisions—once the domain of military intelligence—are now generated through predictive algorithms.

Israel’s AI Use in Gaza Normalises Civilian Killings with Big Tech Complicity

WE NEWS

 Israel’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip – supported by tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon – is raising concerns about the normalisation of mass civilian casualties and prompting serious questions about the complicity of these companies in potential war crimes. Several reports have confirmed that Israel has deployed AI models such as Lavender, Gospel, and Where’s Daddy? to conduct mass surveillance, identify targets, and direct strikes on tens of thousands of individuals in Gaza – often in their own homes – with minimal human oversight, according to Anadolu Ajansi.

Microsoft under scrutiny for support for Israeli army

Anadolu Agency

Microsoft is under scrutiny due to its alleged support of the Israeli military via its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services after the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Senior Microsoft employees protested the company’s services to Israel at its 50th anniversary party, including AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, which brought back to the table the company’s involvement with Israel. The Guardian newspaper reported in January that Microsoft provided more IT and storage services to the Israeli military after the Oct. 7 attacks and signed multi-million dollar deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support. The Israeli military became increasingly dependent on companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to store and process large data.