Palestine and Social Media

Time and time again, we've witnessed the familiar cycle: Israel launches a brutal bombing campaign on Gaza, putting Palestine into the global spotlight. Palestinian voices are often sidelined in mainstream discourse. So, Palestinians turn to the only available tool they have: social media. It becomes their primary means to share their stories and amplify their voices. However, this very tool is frequently subjected to censorship. Since October 7, we've seen this censorship take on new heights. For example, WhatsApp’s AI image generator created emojis of gun-wielding children when prompted with ‘Palestinian,’ and Instagram’s AI-translation model replaced “Palestinianالحمد الله” with “Palestinian Terrorist”. Palestinian accounts are being shadowbanned and posts are throttled. But the problem, of course, is deeper than that. Palestinian voices, especially those of journalists and human rights defenders, face significant and disproportionate censorship and limited reachability in times of crisis. Host Diana Buttu speaks with Mona Shtaya to help make sense of it all. Mona is the Campaigns and Partnerships Manager and Corporate Engagement Lead at Digital Actions. She also holds the position of a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), where her focus lies on surveillance and digital rights in the MENA region. She also serves as a non-resident scholar for the Middle East Institute (MEI) in the Cyber Security and Emerging Technology Program and the Palestine-Israel program. Prior to her current role, she worked as the Advocacy and Communications Manager at 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media.