Digital Rights Weekly Update: 24 - 30 October

New Report by 7amleh Exposes Biased Content Moderation Practices on LinkedIn During the Genocide in Gaza

7amleh

October 27, 2025, 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media has released a new report titled “Digital Rights Under Threat: The Impact of LinkedIn’s Biased Moderation Amid Genocide.” The report documents, through fifteen user testimonies and interviews with LinkedIn and Microsoft employees, the violations resulting from biased content moderation practices and their impact on Palestinian human rights defenders amid Israel’s ongoing war and genocide in Gaza. The report reveals serious gaps in LinkedIn’s moderation policies and an internal work environment marked by institutional bias in favor of Israel and anti-Palestinian racism. This environment has enabled violations of standard moderation procedures and the restriction of human rights and humanitarian content supportive of Palestinians. Testimonies indicate that executive decisions within the company have led to clear violations of digital rights and freedom of expression, in direct contravention of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The report also highlights the platform’s leniency toward content inciting violence and hatred against Palestinians, exposing a dangerous double standard in moderation enforcement.

As Israel Bombed Gaza, Amazon Did Business With Its Bomb-Makers

The Intercept

Amazon sold cloud-computing services to two Israeli weapons manufacturers whose munitions helped devastate Gaza, according to internal company materials obtained by The Intercept. Amazon Web Services has furnished the Israeli government — including its military and intelligence agencies — with a suite of state-of-the-art data processing and storage services since 2021 as part of its controversial Project Nimbus deal. Last year, The Intercept revealed a provision in that contract requiring Amazon and Google, the other Nimbus vendor, to sell cloud services to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israeli Aerospace Industries, two leading Israeli weapons firms. New internal financial data and emails between Amazon personnel and their Israeli corporate and governmental clients show that Amazon has consistently provided software to both Rafael and IAI in 2024 and 2025 — periods during which Israel’s military was using their products to indiscriminately kill civilians and destroy civil infrastructure. Rafael purchased artificial intelligence technologies made available through Amazon Web Services, including the state-of-the-art large language model Claude, developed by AI startup Anthropic.

Meta found in breach of EU law over ‘ineffective’ complaints system for flagging illegal content

The Guardian

“When it comes to Meta, neither Facebook nor Instagram appear to provide a user-friendly and easily accessible ‘notice and action’ mechanism for users to flag illegal content such as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content,” the commission said. A senior EU official said the case was not only about illegal content, but also about freedom of speech and “moderation that has gone too far”. In the past, Facebook has been accused of “shadow banning” users on issues such as Palestine, meaning their content is demoted by the algorithm. The current mechanisms for complaints were “too difficult for users to go through to the end”, resulting not just in ineffectiveness but a disincentive for users to get in touch, the official said. Campaigners have continued to allege safety shortcomings in some of Meta’s products. Last month, a Meta whistleblower, Arturo Béjar, published research he said showed that the majority of new safety tools rolled out on Instagram were ineffective, leaving children under 13 not safe on the platform.

‘No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon

+972 Magazine

An investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian revealed that Google and Amazon agreed to secret clauses in their $1.2 billion “Project Nimbus” contract with Israel that allow the government unrestricted use of their cloud and AI services—even if that use violates company policies. The contract also obliges the companies to secretly alert Israel if a foreign court orders access to Israeli data, using coded financial transfers known as the “winking mechanism.” These terms, experts warn, may violate U.S. and international law, effectively prioritizing Israeli interests over transparency and legal compliance. The project underpins Israel’s military, intelligence, and government infrastructure, despite widespread protests by employees and human rights advocates.