Digital Rights Weekly Update: 5 - 11 December

YouTube and big tech censorship threatens global accountability, Palestinian rights groups say

Mondoweiss

In a stark escalation undermining global efforts to preserve accountability for Israeli violations, Palestinian civil society organizations have been hit by an unprecedented campaign to erase their digital archives and silence their documentation work. What began as a U.S. political decision has now translated into sweeping and coordinated digital censorship, threatening decades of human rights documentation that formed the backbone of Palestinian legal submissions to international courts. For years, Palestinian human rights groups have meticulously collected evidence of Israeli abuses, from targeted killings and home demolitions to torture and violations against detainees. Much of this work was compiled and submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of ongoing investigations.

Social media helping to enact and cover up Gaza genocide

Arab News

Hillary Clinton last week claimed that TikTok was to blame for many young Americans’ pro-Palestine views and that they were falling for “pure propaganda.” She depicted this as a “serious problem for democracy.” Who had ever imagined that the former US secretary of state was either an expert on the history of Palestine or, in particular, an avid consumer of TikTok videos? Yet still, how wrong can she be. What is the reality of how social media and technology have been used during the Gaza genocide? According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with American influencers, social media platforms are “the most important weapon” Israel has “to secure our base in the US.” How else would so many have seen the horrific scenes of mass destruction? Israeli soldiers uploaded a slew of highly revealing footage showing how they desecrated Palestinian homes. Videos from Palestinian journalists have also gone viral. Campaigns and protests have been coordinated, amplified and recorded across the globe.

Under the radar: Israel steps up censorship and suppression of independent reporting

CPJ

Much of this self-censorship is rooted in a decade-long campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undermine the free press. “Netanyahu has had this very long history of targeting media outlets — trying to infiltrate or undermine the media by takeovers, by shutting down outlets, by opening new outlets, by intervening in the ownership structure, or trying to plant his analysts or his kind of editors within different teams,” +972 Magazine journalist Haggai Mattar told CPJ.  Since October 7, these pressures have only intensified. Ministers have sought to permanently ban media outlets seen as critical of Israel’s military operations, privatize and weaken public broadcasting, and direct government advertising towards politically aligned platforms. Meanwhile, journalists must also contend with censorship by the military and Israeli police. The military censor, a legacy of British colonialism, has broad jurisdiction, legally requiring journalists to submit any security-related articles for its review prior to publication. 

$726 Million Allocated for 'Image Laundering' in Israeli Budget Following Gaza Atrocities

Yaffa News Network

The Israeli government allocated a massive budget of 2.35 billion shekels ($726 million) to support pro-Israel propaganda campaigns and improve its image globally, following the atrocities committed by its army in the Gaza Strip. The "Jerusalem Post" reported that the Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs, Bezalel Smotrich and Gideon Sa'ar, agreed on this amount as part of the 2026 budget. In addition to the budget increase, the government approved the establishment of a Public Diplomacy Unit within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate propaganda efforts. The government stated that the new allocations will be used to fund social media campaigns, cooperate with civil society organizations, and bring delegations of leaders and influencers to Israel. The campaigns focus heavily on digital platforms, targeting the Gen Z demographic via TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.