Digital Rights Weekly Update: 21 - 27 November

New report exposes systemic pro-Israel bias across eight major western media outlets

Water Justice in Palestine

A media-analysis report released on 20 November titled ‘Framing Gaza’ presents data showing that major western outlets mention “Israel” far more often than “Palestine” in both headlines and article bodies. The outlets in question mention big names, including the New York Times (NYT), BBC, Le Monde, the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Reuters, AP, and AFP. According to the dataset, NYT uses “Israel” in headlines 1,868 times and “Palestine” only 10 times, a ratio of 187 to 1.  The disproportionate pattern appears across the other outlets, with BBC showing 1,100 uses of “Israel” in headlines and 91 uses of “Palestine,” Le Monde showing 1,087 versus 65, and De Telegraaf showing 952 versus 65. The report also notes that when “Palestine” does appear in headlines, over half of them refer to “pro-Palestine protests” or “Palestine Action,” rather than to Palestinians themselves.

Gaza War, Algorithms and Silenced Voices

Mimeta

Meta is accused of having carried out one of the most extensive digital censorship operations of our time against Palestinian and pro‑Palestinian voices – and leaks suggest that this took place in close coordination with the Israeli authorities. At the same time, Arab artists and cultural communities are developing new strategies to circumvent the algorithms that attempt to reduce them to silence. In a report and statement published on 15 November 2025, 7amleh concludes that censorship of Palestinian content on Meta platforms is both systematic and global. The organisation describes how the leak aligns with testimonies from users in the region and the diaspora, who report deleted posts, closed accounts, and dramatically reduced reach as soon as they document abuses, criticise Israeli authorities, or express support for Palestinian resistance. According to 7amleh, this happens “in the midst of an ongoing catastrophe in Gaza”, where digital documentation is crucial for storytelling, accountability, and solidarity work.​

Israel to deploy ‘Morpheus’ AI system to monitor soldiers’ social media

Middle East Eye

The Israeli army said it will deploy a new artificial intelligence technology system called Morpheus to monitor the social media accounts of its soldiers and verify everything they post, including texts, pictures, and videos. The Israeli army radio reported on Wednesday that Hamas had established a huge intelligence network before 7 October 2023, through which it obtained information about the army and its movements from soldiers’ accounts on social media platforms. The radio station added that the new step aims to "reduce this phenomenon", adding that if necessary, the system will be able to identify cases for review by information security officials. The report said that during a four-month trial phase of the system, accounts of 45,000 soldiers were monitored, and thousands of cases were recorded that required deletion of posts deemed sensitive.

The Architecture of displacement: Why X thinks Gaza is in Poland

Medium

The prerequisite for accurate geolocation is a functioning local network. In Gaza, the telecommunications infrastructure has been almost entirely destroyed. The cell towers are down and the power required to run them is gone. This forces users to rely on “foreign” signals. To get online, Palestinians are using eSIMs (embedded SIM cards) donated or purchased from international providers like Airalo, Simly, or Nomad. These are the same data plans tourists use to avoid roaming charges when traveling. When a user in Rafah activates one of these eSIMs, their phone cannot connect to a Palestinian tower. Instead, the phone roams to the strongest available signal it can find. This is usually an Israeli tower (Cellcom or Pelephone) or, if they are far enough south, an Egyptian tower (Vodafone Egypt) bleeding signal across the border. This is where the digital displacement begins.