2023-10-28 10:00:00
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Social media companies must urgently address the inflamed hate and racism on the internet against Palestinian and Jewish communities, Amnesty International said today, as the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories further escalates.
The organization has observed an alarming increase in social media platforms advocacy of hatred that constitutes incitement to violence, hostility and discrimination, which is prohibited under international human rights law, and other content harmful to Palestinians and Jews. Amnesty International has also documented worrying reports indicating that content published by Palestinians and by those who defend the rights of the Palestinian population are being subject to potentially discriminatory content moderation through social media platforms.
“Social media can play a decisive role in crisis situations for communication, and therefore large social media companies must urgently step up measures to protect human rights. Companies must ensure that their platforms do not spread messages of hate and violence, or risk contributing to flagrant human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law. “This includes war crimes, which have characterized this conflict and caused unprecedented numbers of civilian casualties and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis,” said Rasha Abdul-Rahim, director of Amnesty Tech.
“Companies must ensure that their platforms do not spread messages of hate and violence, or risk contributing to flagrant human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Amnesty International concluded that a significant number of social media posts They glorify Israel’s attacks against civilians in Gaza, They support the destruction of Gaza and advocate violence against Palestinians. Many publications make use of a dehumanizing and racist language against Palestinian peopleand in some cases they also resort to the language used by the Israeli authorities.
The organization has also documented some antisemitic postsmany of which advocate hatred and the violence against Jewish people. Previous investigations of the organization Center for Countering Digital Hate have highlighted the proliferation of anti-Semitic content on X (formerly Twitter) in recent months.
He Violence Indicator of the Palestinian NGO 7amleh has detected more than 493.000 cases (and the number continues to increase) of apology of hatred against Palestinian people and those who defend the rights of the Palestinian population in Hebrew language content on social media platforms, from October 7, 2023.
The Israeli government and military authorities have also used dehumanizing language and anti-Palestinian racism.. On October 16, the Prime Minister of Israel’s X account (@IsraeliPM) posted discriminatory content who used dehumanizing language: ““There is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle.”
Likewise, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, he claimed on October 17, 2023: “As long as Hamas does not release the hostages it has in its hands, the only thing that should enter Gaza are hundreds of tons of explosives from the Air Force, not even the slightest humanitarian aid.”
Total blackout and hidden censorship (“shadowbanning“) of Palestinian content
Amnesty International has also received worrying reports of a excessively broad censorship of the content of Palestinian accounts and those who defend the rights of the Palestinian population on various social media platforms.
The Palestinian population in the occupied Gaza Strip is trapped in a increasing communications blackout that limits your ability to seek, receive and disseminate information. Uneven content moderation by social media platforms risks further undermining the ability of Palestinians, inside and outside Gaza, to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. .
“As Israel intensifies its unprecedented bombing of Gaza, which has killed more than 7,000 people, mostly civilians, we find reports of a blockade and a cause for extreme concern.”shadowbanning“of content from those who defend the rights of the Palestinian population,” said Rasha Abdul-Rahim.
“Content moderation should be done in such a way that gguarantee respect for the right to freedom of expression, and address widespread hate speech at the same time. Social media companies must invest adequate resources in human oversight of content moderation systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure that all people who use the networks, including Palestinians, can equally exercise their rights. on the Internet, whatever your political opinions. “Several platforms have undermined their ability to do so by dismissing staff responsible for human rights compliance.”
The investigation has shown that artificial intelligence systems reproduce existing social biases under the pretext of neutrality. As recently as October 19, 2023, Meta apologized for inserting the word “terrorist” in translations of Instagram profiles that contained the terms “Palestinian” and “Alhamdullilah” (which means Praise God) and the Palestinian flag emoji. The company also lowered the certainty threshold required to “hide” hostile content from 80% to 25%, for content produced in large areas of the Middle East. This was an attempt to stem the flow of hostile speech but could lead to overly broad restrictions on content.
In May 2021, a report of Business for Social Responsibility revealed that In Arabic language content, a higher degree of “overcompliance” was observed than in other languages., including Hebrew, on Meta platforms. “False penalties” contributed to the reduced visibility and engagement of Arabic publications.
Already before the current crisis, Amnesty International’s research pointed out that the system of oppression and domination of the Palestinian population by Israel amounts to the crime against humanity of apartheid. The Amnesty International investigation It has also shown that social media algorithms are designed to maximize engagement, resulting in often disproportionately amplified and inflammatory content, including hate speech that incites violence, hostility and discrimination.
In this context, it is essential that large technology companies address the actual and potential human rights impacts of their operations to ensure that they do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses, or enable the proliferation of hatred, racism and the misinformation.
Additional information
On October 7, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups flagrantly violated international law and displayed a terrible disregard for human life by carrying out brutal and cruel crimes, including mass summary executions, hostage-taking and the indiscriminate launching of rocket attacks against Israel. Since then, Israeli forces have launched relentless aerial bombardments over the entire Gaza Strip with catastrophic effects. The serious humanitarian situation resulting from the blockade that Israel has maintained for 16 years has also worsened even more following the order of the Israeli Minister of Defense to impose a total siege on October 8, which prevents the access of the Palestinian population of Gaza to food, water, fuel, electricity and communications and is equivalent to the war crime of collective punishment.
Authorities in the West Bank and Europe, among other places, are also imposing increasing restrictions on Palestinian human rights protests.
Amnesty International continues to monitor cases of unlawful blocking or removal of social media posts, as well as the “hidden blocking” of accounts in the context of the current conflict. If you or someone you know has been the target of these actions, please share with us. [email protected] links and/or screenshots of flagged or removed content, as well as screenshots of original content.
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