Lamis al-Astal – Gaza
The Palestinian narrative is still swimming in a dark ocean of digital injustice headed by double standards; the Palestinian voice is not only besieged in war fields, but also on social media platforms. In the times of globalization where these platforms should be the voice for freedom of speech and expression, many pro-Palestine social media pages and posts were deleted or its users were banned; for documenting a painful reality and a clear truth happening in a corner of a pained homeland its narrative is being banned, the truth being hidden behind pretexts of “policy violations” and “hate speech,” while the Israeli occupation’s fabricated narrative is being published and marketed without borders or limits, during obvious and clear broad day light violations of human rights.
Digital Media silences Palestinian Journalists
Palestinian journalist Alam Eddin Sadiq says, “ My journey in photography began 15 years ago; out of passion and my love of documenting events and what’s going on in Palestine and the Gaza Strip – where I live –, of criminal events committed by the Israeli occupation against us; I wanted to be a voice for my homeland, highlight my people’s suffering, their pain, and concerns.”
Sadiq adds, “The field conditions in the Gaza Strip are extremely difficult and filled with enormous challenges. Journalism by nature is a profession of seeking trouble; we document events under relentless shelling and destruction, in an environment where the Israeli occupation does not respect journalists’ rights or their mission, killing them mercilessly.”
“We are not only being fought on the ground but also on digital platforms. Just a week ago, I posted a single photo showing Gaza’s children reduced to skeletal figures because of the forced starvation imposed by the occupation, and Facebook banned and deleted it without any convincing justification. Since the start of the current assault on Gaza, I’ve had to create three new pages on the same platform, and others on Instagram, because Palestinian content keeps getting removed,” he continues.
Sadiq points out that most of the banned content consists of images and videos of starving children, the wounded and martyrs, bombed and destroyed places, as well as any text containing words related to the Palestinian cause. He confirms that Facebook’s algorithms specifically monitor Palestinians, creating a “digital gateway of injustice” that allows what it wants and deletes what it pleases.
He adds, “The deletion and restrictions make it much harder to deliver the Palestinian narrative to the world. It leaves me frustrated, helpless, and wronged by this digital blackout, but it also pushes me to work even harder to continue delivering the voice of Palestinian truth. I now use methods like breaking up words and blurring images of bleeding children and martyrs as alternative ways to get the message across and counter the Israeli propaganda content.”
Sadiq further explains, “Digital platforms side with the occupation, promote its policies, and amplify settler pages and Israeli army spokespersons. They say and publish whatever they want, openly inciting the killing of Palestinians, making it easier to spread their narrative while silencing ours before the world.”
He gives an example, “During the current assault on Gaza, I posted photos of a U.S.-made missile used to commit a massacre in one of Rafah’s refugee camps in southern Gaza. The photos went viral, but Israeli settlers attacked me with obscene and abusive words, which Facebook did not block or delete, while it banned and removed some of my photos instead.”
Sadiq concludes, “Suppressing Palestinian content is a real and tangible blockade on all of Palestine, not just Gaza. But it will not affect our determination to deliver our Palestinian message. Despite everything, we have managed to achieve our goal: people in European countries are printing photos of our massacres, starvation, and destruction and raising them during protests outside European parliaments and Israeli embassies in their countries. This makes me feel proud that we can accomplish our mission despite everything.”
Journalist Yaffa Abu Akar finds that freedom of expression in Palestine is clearly repressed by various forms of pressure exerted by the Israeli occupation, particularly on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. She notes that restrictions are imposed whenever they attempt to share the Palestinian people’s voices through videos, posts, or images that depict the reality of massacres committed against them.
Abu Akar says, “Just one word can lead to your page being restricted on these platforms, words like ‘martyr,’ ‘prisoner,’ or ‘remains’—all labeled as ‘inappropriate content’ even though they are real and factual.”
“Censorship has intensified lately, especially amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. My page, followed by more than 150,000 people from around the world, has been restricted several times and reported by anonymous accounts under flimsy pretexts. Still, I am determined to continue delivering my voice and message despite all the obstacles,” she explains.
Abu Akar continues, “Palestinian content is fought against in every form despite its accuracy, unlike Israeli content, which is supported, promoted, and delivered to the widest possible audience. For instance, when I posted pictures of children killed by Israeli forces during the current assault on Gaza, the content was restricted for being ‘inappropriate,’ while images of armed Israeli soldiers spread widely as if they were legitimate military content.”
She calls on platforms to adopt transparent moderation policies based on international human rights standards instead of political bias, and stresses the need for an international media coalition to protect Palestinian content from digital erasure. She also urges Arab and international audiences to support Palestinian pages and influencers.
Weaponized Algorithms Against the Palestinian Narrative
Nasma Al-Halabi, the Communications Coordinator at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), says “There is a systematic and escalating violation of freedom of expression when it comes to Palestinian content. We constantly witness the deletion of posts, banning of accounts, and restricting of reach for content that documents Israeli occupation crimes or expresses the Palestinian plight. These measures clearly contradict Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression, and they show unjustified bias toward the Israeli narrative.”
Al-Halabi emphasizes that these platforms’ algorithms are not neutral but rather a political tool that shapes public awareness.
“When Palestinian narratives are automatically classified as violent or terrorist while Israeli incitement content is promoted without obstacles, it’s a sign that these algorithms are programmed to serve political agendas. This blatant leniency reflects the influence of major powers supporting the Israeli occupation on decision-making within tech companies.”
She notes that Israeli incitement content, including calls for genocide and displacement, is rarely removed or restricted, while Palestinian content is systematically targeted—even if it is strictly human rights or documentary in nature.
“This double standard, rooted in ‘might makes right,’ is a clear example of structural bias against Palestinians,” she says.
Al-Halabi explains, “Commitment to international human rights standards—especially regarding transparency, fairness, and the right to appeal—is merely superficial for these platforms. There’s no independent oversight body evaluating deletion or restriction decisions. Most companies, like Meta and X, operate based on internal policies unaccountable to external scrutiny, opening the door to discrimination and political bias.”
She further explains that major tech companies and some governments collude on policies regarding Palestine, even if such collusion is not always declared.
“Many social platforms have signed security agreements with certain governments, including Israel, allowing data sharing and coordinated content removal decisions. There is a specialized Israeli unit that sends thousands of takedown requests targeting Palestinian content, and a significant portion are implemented without proper review simply because they are Palestinian.”
Al-Halabi warns that digital discrimination has a catastrophic impact on global public opinion.
“When Palestinian narratives are erased or flagged as violations, a false narrative dominates global consciousness. Many Western audiences don’t see the reality as it is; instead, they’re fed a partial or distorted story that serves the occupier and condemns the victim. This is real manipulation of the media narrative, and it is exactly what the Israeli occupation seeks to achieve in its battle over narrative and the misleading of global opinion.”
She considers this a form of collective digital punishment that targets Palestinians as a national group based on their identity and narrative, in violation of fundamental international human rights principles.
She points out that legal accountability is possible through UN mechanisms such as the Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression or by filing cases in European or U.S. courts against companies involved in discrimination or collusion with oppressive governments.
Al-Halabi adds, “There are multiple ways to confront these policies and pressure platforms to change. Legally, we can file official and documented complaints to UN Special Rapporteurs, human rights defenders, and digital rights committees, highlighting violations against Palestinian content. We can also launch class-action lawsuits in European or U.S. courts, where most of these companies are based, using the principle of digital discrimination and denial of the internationally guaranteed rights to expression and knowledge.”
On the human rights level, these digital violations should be included in local and international human rights reports, documenting testimonies from activists whose accounts were banned or content deleted.
“If digital censorship is proven to deliberately hide documentation or evidence of crimes against civilians—like the current genocide in Gaza—it can be considered a tool facilitating these crimes, and should be included in investigative files as evidence of intent to obscure accountability or destroy evidence,” she says.
Al-Halabi believes that creating Palestinian or Arab alternatives to social media platforms could be a practical solution but not a sufficient one.
“The digital dominance of Western companies, and their control over infrastructure, data, and AI, makes competition very difficult. The more effective solution is to pressure existing platforms to change their unjust policies while strengthening alternative media and resistance-oriented digital communities,” she explains.
She stresses that the United Nations can play a pivotal role by issuing binding recommendations to tech companies, expanding the mandate of Special Rapporteurs to include discriminatory algorithms, and supporting independent and unbiased platforms.
“The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression already intervened in 2021 to condemn Facebook’s practices against Palestinian content and demanded transparent reporting on content moderation policies,” she notes.
Al-Halabi says, “We have extensive documented testimonies from activists and journalists, especially during the aggression on Gaza. Well-known journalists’ accounts were banned, and pages of human rights organizations were restricted.”
As a human rights defender, she feels deep sadness, anger, and injustice seeing the Palestinian narrative suppressed digitally before the world’s eyes. But it also strengthens her determination:
“We don’t have planes, tanks, or global media. We have the word, and when the word is silenced, our duty is doubled. Digital repression is an attempt to break the will of a people. As rights defenders, we refuse to remain silent or merely document the injustice; we must act by every available means, including the digital space itself.”
She cites the blatant double standards in how platforms handle global conflicts:
“During the Russia-Ukraine war, calls for resistance and self-defense were allowed, while similar Palestinian posts are banned and labeled as ‘incitement.’ These double standards undermine user trust and expose that freedom of expression is not equally protected but instead subjected to political calculations and strategic interests.”
Al-Halabi warns, “Suppressing the Palestinian narrative directly affects the right to know, which is a fundamental right guaranteed internationally. When people are denied access to the truth about what is happening in Gaza, it weakens global solidarity and deprives victims of humanitarian and political support. Genocide is a crime occurring in full view of the world; remaining silent or colluding in silencing the victims’ voices is a form of indirect complicity and may even facilitate the crime.”
She concludes that silencing Palestinian voices online is a new face of Israel’s blockade on Palestine—but one that is even more dangerous, because it targets awareness itself.
“On-the-ground sieges block food and medicine. The digital siege blocks the truth,” she says.
She sends a message to the world:
“The word is the weapon of oppressed peoples. Support it, don’t suffocate it. Don’t allow digital platforms to become partners in silencing the victim; instead, make them platforms for justice and freedom.”
Digital Censorship: Israel’s Contemporary Weapon in its War Against Palestinians
Salah Abd Al-Atti, head of the International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights, says:
“From a legal standpoint, the way social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube handle Palestinian content with double standards, shutting down hundreds of activists’ pages as well as those of media outlets, journalists, and human rights defenders, constitutes a violation of media freedoms and a bias toward the occupation. Their violent and racist content inciting hatred remains available. These companies are complicit in many of the occupation’s crimes and must be held accountable for their grave violations against Palestinian content and pro-Palestine activists.”
He explains, “We launched a campaign against violations of Palestinian content and demanded UN intervention to ensure freedom of expression on these platforms. We’ve organized workshops, meetings, and advocacy campaigns, which helped push some platforms to roll back certain violations, but double standards persist.”
He adds that they asked a number of lawyers to take action against these companies but lacked the necessary funding to proceed. Many activists whose pages and content were banned have filed complaints against these platforms.
Abd Al-Atti notes, “No matter how much social media platforms violate Palestinian content, solidarity with Palestinians continues to spread widely, even with attempts to restrict reach, block funding, and close pages repeatedly.”
He calls for cooperation between civil society and media organizations to expose these policies, document violations, and pursue companies for any violations in the International Criminal Court and other international courts using the principle of universal jurisdiction.
“This is a repeated violation and a selective policy designed primarily to support the Israeli narrative and suppress the Palestinian one. Social media has helped expose the occupation’s crimes and has been a rare breakthrough against the narrative broadcast by occupation-aligned media to the United States and other Western countries,” he asserts.
The Numbers Speak: Over 1,000 Cases of Digital Suppression of Palestinian Content
In December 2023, the international human rights monitoring organization documented 1,050 cases of censorship targeting Palestinian content in more than 60 countries on Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta. The patterns of suppression included removing pro-Palestinian content, suspending or shutting down accounts, restricting engagement (likes, comments, shares), preventing users from following or tagging Palestinian accounts, limiting features such as live streaming, and shadow-banning Palestinian content without notification.
The organization found that Meta relies on U.S. “dangerous organizations” lists to ban terms like “Palestinian resistance,” even when used in news or human rights contexts. It applies content-violence policies inconsistently, deleting footage documenting civilian attacks in Gaza while leaving Israeli incitement content intact.
In its response, Meta claimed commitment to human rights, but the organization found that promises of reform made since 2021 were not implemented, increasing violations during 2023–2024.
In April 2025, the organization reported dozens of Palestinian accounts deleted or restricted for posting about war crimes in Gaza on the X platform, while Israeli content denying these crimes was allowed. One example was the deletion of a Kuwaiti academic’s account after posting images of child victims of Israeli bombing, under the pretext of “violating community standards.”
The organization noted that X provided no clear explanations, leading it to consider the platform complicit in suppressing the Palestinian narrative.
Debra Brown from the organization stated, “The blocking of Palestinian content is not a technical error; it’s a policy reflecting systemic bias that worsens impunity for war crimes.”
The organization recommends reforming content policies, including redefining “dangerous speech” to align with international law instead of U.S./Israeli policies, ensuring transparency by disclosing government takedown requests (especially from Israel), protecting news content from removal under the pretext of “violence,” and creating independent oversight bodies that include Palestinian experts to review moderation decisions.
According to The Verge, Microsoft has also participated in the assault on the Palestinian cause since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023. The company internally blocked emails containing keywords like Gaza, Palestine, and genocide, thereby marginalizing Palestinian content and concealing daily suffering from the world — a blatant partnership in covering up occupation crimes, especially the ongoing genocide, now in its nineteenth consecutive month in Gaza.
