Ramzy
Baroud
(
Middle East Monitor ) – Social media censorship is a global phenomenon, but the
war on pro-Palestinian views on social media represents a different kind of
censorship, with consequences that can only be described as dire.
Long
before the current devastating war on Gaza and the escalation of Israeli
violence and repression in the Occupied West Bank, Palestinian and
pro-Palestinian voices have been censored.
Some
date the censorship to an agreement in 2016 that, according to the Israeli
government, sought to “force social networks to remove content that Israel
considers to be incitement.”
This
was translated, almost immediately, to the shutting down of thousands of
accounts and the barring of many social media influencers, with the hope of
slowing down the vastly growing pro-Palestinian tendencies in all Meta-linked
platforms.
The
war on Gaza, however, has escalated the censorship. In a report submitted to
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression,
Human Rights Watch noted that the documented restrictions on freedom of speech
“undermine the fundamental human rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”
The
censorship became so sophisticated and increasingly involved a direct Israeli
role. To ensure that ‘offenders’ to Israeli sensibilities were eliminated in
large numbers, Meta began censoring specific words, thus deeming entire
contents offensive, racist and anti-Semitic.
But
Meta was not the only social media network involved in this practice. On 17
November, 2023, the X platform (previously known as Twitter) declared that
users who write terms like “decolonisation”, “from the river to the sea”, or
similar expressions would be suspended.
One
year later, the social media platform Twitch followed suit by revising its
‘Hateful Content Policy’ to include “Zionist” as a potential slur.
Not
only do these decisions, and many others, directly impair the freedom of speech
and press, but they also confuse rational conversations with anti-Jewish
sentiments.
The
word ‘genocide’, for example, is not a swear word, but a common term, embraced
by numerous countries around the world, accusing Israel of carrying out acts of
genocide, meaning the “systematic destruction of a group of people because of
their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race”.
Under
pressure from many countries, and after presenting a powerful case at The
Hague, South Africa managed to compel the International Court of Justice to
investigate Israel’s acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip in violation of the
1948 Genocide Convention.
In
other words, this is not a matter for Mark Zuckerberg or any other social media
company to decide, based on direct consultations with those carrying out the
mass killings in Gaza.
The
same applies to Zionism, an ideologically situated political movement that
traces its history to 19th-century Europe, thus, neither to a specific race nor
a religious text.
While
many are, rightly, outraged by the fact that this kind of widespread, and
growing, censorship directly challenges the main tenets of democracy, the
actual harm for Palestinians is much bigger.
According
to a November 2024 report by the Sada Social Centre for Digital Rights, the
surge in digital violations targeting Palestinian content could not come at a
worse time.
According
to the organisation, “Meta platforms accounted for the largest share of
violations at 57 per cent, followed by TikTok at 23 per cent.” YouTube and X
follow at 13 and 7 per cent respectively.
This
censorship, according to Sada, includes the shutting down of WhatsApp accounts,
another Meta-owned platform that is also tightly controlled.
Unlike
most of us, Palestinians in Gaza use these platforms to communicate with one
another, to know who is dead and who is alive, and to raise awareness of
certain massacres, often taking place in isolation, especially in the northern
Gaza Strip.
Regarding
northern Gaza, Sada Social spoke of a ‘digital blackout’, which has compounded
the horror of that region – famine, mass killing, destruction of all hospitals,
etc.
In
the specific case of social media censorship in Gaza, lives are literally being
lost as a result of politically motivated decisions.
HRW
was one of many rights groups that have routinely spoken about the ‘systematic
censorship’ by Meta. A December 2023 HRW report identified the following
recurring patterns of censorship: removal of content, suspension of
pro-Palestinian accounts, the reduction of visibility, known as
‘shadow-banning’, the restrictions on engagement, and the deliberate misuse of
policies on hate speech and graphic content.
The
danger of this kind of censorship is multilayered. It is a direct threat to one
of the most basic freedoms guaranteed under the law in any democratic society.
In the case of Gaza, the censorship takes a dark, deadly turn as it could make
the difference between people dying under the rubble of their homes or
receiving assistance.
Additionally,
censorship of this magnitude often creates precedents and often leads to other
forms of censorship that, in fact, are already taking place against other
vulnerable communities, whether on a national stage or globally.
While
the international community is yet to translate its verbal solidarity with
Palestinians into any meaningful action, the least we could do is to give
Palestinians their full rights to express their views, share their pain, and
raise awareness of their collective plight. The world owes them that much, and
no social media company should be permitted to hinder such a simple and
reasonable demand.
No comments:
Post a Comment