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Israel’s influence on Big Tech: Silencing pro-Palestine media

August 23, 2024 at 11:20 am

A man and a woman hold their mobile phones showing logos of social media applications in Istanbul, Turkiye on June 08, 2024. [Didem Mente – Anadolu Agency]

On Monday, Egyptian-American comedian and outspoken critic of Israel Bassem Youssef caused a social media storm after his account on X with almost 12 million followers was no longer accessible. This led to widespread speculation among users, media outlets and even the state-affiliated account of Israel, with many assuming that Elon Musk’s platform had banned him.

Youssef later clarified on his Instagram account that he had voluntarily deactivated his X account due to safety concerns for his family. “When safety issues concerning my loved ones are alleviated, I might consider coming back. I wish to deal with this away from the media. I will still be posting my content on TikTok, Insta, and FB,” he explained.

However, following last month’s announcement by Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, that the platforms will be clamping down on anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian posts — including the removal of content “attacking ‘Zionists’ when it is not explicitly about the political movement” — Youssef may ironically face de-platforming on those platforms as well.

Meta has already been involved in recent controversies, including an incident where the company was compelled to apologise to the Malaysian prime minister after removing his post offering condolences for Hamas’s late political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, which Meta later claimed was due to “an operational error.” Additionally, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised what he describes as “digital fascism” after the country blocked access to Instagram.

Late last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Meta of stifling pro-Palestinian voices, while popular messaging app, WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, has reportedly been complicit in the occupation army’s targeted killing of Palestinians, amid the brutal ongoing war on Gaza. Charges made all the more convincing following the recent precision strikes against a mother and her newborn twins, while her husband was out collecting their birth certificates. This happened just days after their mother, a pharmacist, had proudly announced their births on Facebook.

READ: Turkiye blocks access to Instagram platform

TikTok fares no better, after executives, including public policy heads for the Americas and Europe, visited Israel and met with President Isaac Herzog earlier this year over complaints it was failing to censor “antisemitic and pro-Hamas content.”

Last month, an investigative report by Lee Fang and Jack Poulson revealed a significant common denominator in the censorship of anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli content across major social media platforms: CyberWell.

This Tel Aviv-based nonprofit has positioned itself as a key player in the global campaign to monitor and combat what it labels as “online antisemitism.”

“The group, which purports to be independent, has lobbied Meta, X and TikTok to remove social media posts under the banner of fighting hate and antisemitism,” the report states.

CyberWell’s origins are deeply intertwined with the occupation government’s efforts to control the narrative around Israel’s numerous atrocities and crimes against humanity. CyberWell emerged from the broader “Voices of Israel” initiative, a government-backed effort designed to counteract the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and other forms of pro-Palestinian advocacy. Its founders and key personnel include former Israeli military and intelligence officers.

READ: Meta accused of ‘systemic censorship’ of pro-Palestine content

The timing of Meta’s intensified efforts in doing Israel’s bidding is interesting, especially considering its recent suspension of the Cradle, an outlet that provides alternative perspectives on “West Asian geopolitics.” The site’s critical coverage of Israel’s actions in contrast to its favourable reporting of the region’s Resistance Axis likely made it a clear target for Meta’s policy updates.

On 16 August, Meta permanently banned the Cradle‘s pages on Instagram and Facebook, citing violations of its community standards, by “praising terrorist organisations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.”

Speaking to MEMO, columnist for the Cradle, Sharmine Narwani, revealed that following a series of events the month before, the online censorship by Meta began to notably increase after Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh.

She explained, “We can’t even post the faces of leaders of and officials of parties in this region who are main players in this war,” referring to figures in the Resistance Axis.

“How can they prevent us from posting the faces and the quotes of leaders who are involved in the war that everyone is watching the world around? This is an absolute infringement on the right to report, on the entire journalistic profession.”

READ: Facebook complicity with Israel in muting Palestinian voices, probe finds

Narwani also pointed out that this censorship appears to be part of a coordinated effort by Meta and other platforms to shape the narrative in favour of Western and Israeli interests, especially in English-language media:

The reason we’re getting targeted is because we’re doing this in English. Arabic media doesn’t get targeted in the same way.

“They’re very concerned, these large platforms and the governments, that their own constituents will hear facts about what’s happening in the region.”

Highlighting the significance of Cyberwell’s influence in online censorship and the shaping of digital discourse to favour pro-Israel narratives, investigative journalist at the Cradle, William Van Wagenen, told MEMO: “One way or another, the group became ‘partners’ of Meta and TikTok, and have heavy lobbied X.”

“CyberWell has been able to censor posts critical of Israel, including its lies about what happened on 7 October.”

Ultimately, it is evident that the most impactful aspect of the media coverage of this conflict lies not merely in documenting the war crimes in Gaza or recognising the genocide unfolding there, nor even in the criticism of the occupation state and the ideology of Zionism.

Rather, it is the normalisation of the fundamental right to resist and the amplification of the voices of leaders and factions within the region’s resistance. These groups, standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine, communicate in a language that the occupation state understands all too well.

“Our mission is to report from the ground, and we’re targeted for crossing that line, not for our posts on Instagram,” Narwani says.

“We posted a finger of Hassan Nasrallah, and it got taken down. There’s a tangible effort to shut down a regional journalistic enterprise that doesn’t stay within the lines — as journalism shouldn’t.”

READ: Meta announces removal of content targeting Zionists in significant anti-Palestinian policy change

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.