Social and digital media platforms play an important role in spreading information about the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. But they face accusations of algorithm bias and content censorship.
Over the past year, Palestinians have utilized digital content to convey events in Gaza to a wide audience in the Arab, Islamic and Western worlds, sparking acts of support around the world. However, experts believe that social media platforms’ algorithms limit the spread of Palestinian content.
The intense digital engagement of young Palestinians has led Israel to target social media figures, YouTube channel owners and journalists broadcasting live from Gaza. This is according to Abdoulhakim Ahmine, a media and communications expert from Morocco when speaking to Anadolu.
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“Some countries, especially France and Germany, initially imposed some kind of digital restrictions, but were forced to backtrack due to increasing public support for Palestine,” Ahmine said. He noted there is communication pressure on young people expressing themselves on these platforms.
Hassan Kharjouj, a technology researcher, said digital platforms’ algorithms strictly censor Palestinian content and limit its spread. He added that users have developed techniques to avoid content removal.
Sada Social, a research center based in Palestine, documented more than 5,450 violations of digital content related to Palestine in the first four months of 2024. This was stated in a report in May 2023.
The report found that Instagram accounted for 32% of breaches, Facebook 26%, WhatsApp 16%, TikTok 14%, and X (formerly Twitter) 12%. Despite these challenges, social media remains an important tool for disseminating information about Israel’s genocidal actions in the region. (Ant/Z-2)
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