11 oct 2019
Facebook on Wednesday deleted the page of the Palestinian Information Centre (PIC) in a move, the news site says, which is part of its war on Palestinian content on social media networks.
The site’s management said Facebook provided them with no prior warning before deleting the page, which had nearly five million followers, without any justification.
They called on Facebook to reinstate the page and stop its battle against Palestinian content, saying they have contested the ban.
The Palestinian Information Centre has previously been forced to suspend posting on Facebook after the social media giant banned the accounts of some of its directors. Member of management have also seen their accounts deleted and removed.
The blocking of the PIC’s page comes as part of an extensive campaign in recent weeks that included many Palestinian social media platforms.
The Palestinian Information Centre was founded in December 1997 in Arabic, as the first Palestinian news site, dedicated to advocating the Palestinian cause and the Arab conflict with the Zionist occupier.
It is biased in favour of the rights of the Palestinian people and their sanctities and the legitimate right to resist the occupier by all legitimate and internationally guaranteed means. It is the only Palestinian site that broadcasts its material in eight languages.
Earlier this week, journalists and activists in Palestine launched a social media campaign against Facebook’s censorship of Palestinian content.
Using the hashtag FBblocksPalestine, the drive hopes to bring to light “the threat posed by Facebook against Palestinian content, and to make it public, as well as reveal the double-standard policy of Facebook management in dealing with Israeli and Palestinian incitement on its site,” says Eyad Rifai, head of Sada Social Centre which is running the drive.
The site’s management said Facebook provided them with no prior warning before deleting the page, which had nearly five million followers, without any justification.
They called on Facebook to reinstate the page and stop its battle against Palestinian content, saying they have contested the ban.
The Palestinian Information Centre has previously been forced to suspend posting on Facebook after the social media giant banned the accounts of some of its directors. Member of management have also seen their accounts deleted and removed.
The blocking of the PIC’s page comes as part of an extensive campaign in recent weeks that included many Palestinian social media platforms.
The Palestinian Information Centre was founded in December 1997 in Arabic, as the first Palestinian news site, dedicated to advocating the Palestinian cause and the Arab conflict with the Zionist occupier.
It is biased in favour of the rights of the Palestinian people and their sanctities and the legitimate right to resist the occupier by all legitimate and internationally guaranteed means. It is the only Palestinian site that broadcasts its material in eight languages.
Earlier this week, journalists and activists in Palestine launched a social media campaign against Facebook’s censorship of Palestinian content.
Using the hashtag FBblocksPalestine, the drive hopes to bring to light “the threat posed by Facebook against Palestinian content, and to make it public, as well as reveal the double-standard policy of Facebook management in dealing with Israeli and Palestinian incitement on its site,” says Eyad Rifai, head of Sada Social Centre which is running the drive.
September 2019 has witnessed a noticeable increase in the number of violations against media freedoms in Palestine.
MADA has documented a total of 53 attacks compared to 36 during August. It should be noted that two thirds of the violations documented this month are mostly the closures and blocks by Facebook.
During this month, Facebook has closed a total of 34 news pages and an account for journalists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip followed by hundreds of thousands of users claiming that they “violate the rules of the Facebook community”.
Some of these pages have been completely closed, while other pages were blocked for a limited period of one month.
According to MADA researches, among these key words why pages are being closed recently are: Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas President in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Quds Brigades, Resistance, Martyr, in addition to news of martyrs and wounded persons and the media material of Palestinian demonstrations.
PNN further reports that, in addition to the Facebook closures, Twitter has also closed one account belonging to a Palestinian journalist during this month.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) is an independent, non-governmental, and non-profit organization founded in 2006, registered under the number (IRA-250-I), with its headquarters in Ramallah.
The center operates throughout the Palestinian territories, working daily to develop the Palestinian Media and to promote and defend media freedoms and freedom of expression.
MADA has documented a total of 53 attacks compared to 36 during August. It should be noted that two thirds of the violations documented this month are mostly the closures and blocks by Facebook.
During this month, Facebook has closed a total of 34 news pages and an account for journalists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip followed by hundreds of thousands of users claiming that they “violate the rules of the Facebook community”.
Some of these pages have been completely closed, while other pages were blocked for a limited period of one month.
According to MADA researches, among these key words why pages are being closed recently are: Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas President in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Quds Brigades, Resistance, Martyr, in addition to news of martyrs and wounded persons and the media material of Palestinian demonstrations.
PNN further reports that, in addition to the Facebook closures, Twitter has also closed one account belonging to a Palestinian journalist during this month.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) is an independent, non-governmental, and non-profit organization founded in 2006, registered under the number (IRA-250-I), with its headquarters in Ramallah.
The center operates throughout the Palestinian territories, working daily to develop the Palestinian Media and to promote and defend media freedoms and freedom of expression.
10 oct 2019
Ra’fat Murra, director of Hamas’s media affairs abroad, has strongly denounced Facebook for blocking the Arabic page of the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), which was followed by millions of people.
The PIC was founded on December 1, 1997 as a news website concerned with the Palestinian cause and the Arab conflict with the Israeli occupation.
It is considered the only Palestinian multilingual website, which is translated from Arabic into seven other languages.
In press remarks on Wednesday, Murra described the measure by Facebook as “a crime against opinion, expression and media freedoms.”
He said that such serious step was part of an ongoing Israeli campaign targeting Palestinian media outlets and social media activists.
“It is obvious that the shutdown of the Palestinian Information Center page is part of the efforts to muzzle the Palestinian voice,” the Hamas official added.
The PIC was founded on December 1, 1997 as a news website concerned with the Palestinian cause and the Arab conflict with the Israeli occupation.
It is considered the only Palestinian multilingual website, which is translated from Arabic into seven other languages.
In press remarks on Wednesday, Murra described the measure by Facebook as “a crime against opinion, expression and media freedoms.”
He said that such serious step was part of an ongoing Israeli campaign targeting Palestinian media outlets and social media activists.
“It is obvious that the shutdown of the Palestinian Information Center page is part of the efforts to muzzle the Palestinian voice,” the Hamas official added.
Facebook on Wednesday evening deleted the Arabic page of the Palestinian Information Center as part of a stepped up campaign against Palestinian content on social media platforms.
The Palestinian Information Center's administration said that Facebook has deleted their verified Arabic page, which has about 5 million followers, without prior notice or any justification.
The Palestinian Information Center's administration called on Facebook to reverse its decision and stop attacking Palestinian content, affirming that they have already started practical steps to restore the page.
They confirmed that the page was deleted while being committed to the standards announced by Facebook despite the prejudice against the Palestinian cause and resistance against the occupation which is a legitimate right guaranteed by all international laws.
Facebook had previously blocked the personal accounts of the admins and editors in charge of the Arabic page of the Palestinian Information Center.
The social media giant has launched a campaign in the recent weeks against Palestinian content on its platform deleting dozens of accounts run by journalists, activists and news agencies.
The Palestinian Information Center was founded on 1 December 1997, and it is the first Palestinian news site dedicated to advocating the Palestinian cause and speaking up for the Palestinian people's rights. The site provides news coverage in eight languages.
The Palestinian Information Center's administration said that Facebook has deleted their verified Arabic page, which has about 5 million followers, without prior notice or any justification.
The Palestinian Information Center's administration called on Facebook to reverse its decision and stop attacking Palestinian content, affirming that they have already started practical steps to restore the page.
They confirmed that the page was deleted while being committed to the standards announced by Facebook despite the prejudice against the Palestinian cause and resistance against the occupation which is a legitimate right guaranteed by all international laws.
Facebook had previously blocked the personal accounts of the admins and editors in charge of the Arabic page of the Palestinian Information Center.
The social media giant has launched a campaign in the recent weeks against Palestinian content on its platform deleting dozens of accounts run by journalists, activists and news agencies.
The Palestinian Information Center was founded on 1 December 1997, and it is the first Palestinian news site dedicated to advocating the Palestinian cause and speaking up for the Palestinian people's rights. The site provides news coverage in eight languages.
8 oct 2019
New campaign hopes to expose what it calls double-standard policy of social media giant in dealing with Israeli and Palestinian incitement
A social media campaign rejecting what it calls "violations" of Facebook rules by censoring Palestinian content has been launched by Palestinian journalists and activists.
The campaign in cooperation with Sada Social Center, which monitors social media violations against Palestinian content, is calling on users to tweet using the hashtag #FBblockspalestine by Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in order to highlight “the threat posed by Facebook against Palestinian content, and to make it public".
The campaign also hopes to reveal what it calls a policy of double standards by Facebook management in dealing with Israeli and Palestinian incitement on its site.
"Twitter is the first in a series of actions we will take,” says Eyad Rifai, head of Sada Social Center.
“Next week, we will meet with a group of institutions and potential partners to discuss ways to counter the attack on Palestinian content."
He warned action in the field will be taken at a later stage as well.
Rifai said the campaign aims to “protect the digital rights of the Palestinian people so they can practice their right of absolute freedom of speech via cyberspace without the involvement of Facebook management that "limits their freedoms while allowing Israeli users to incite against Arabs as well as call to kill them.”
He added: “Facebook has developed an algorithm that automatically deletes users' posts and accounts if they include names of Palestinian political parties, for example ‘Hamas,’ ‘Jihad,’ ‘Popular Front,’ ‘Qassam,’ ‘Saraya’ and ‘Islamic Jihad,’ or names of martyrs, leaders and others without looking at the context in which they were posted, which sets a historic precedent for infringement on media freedom.”
Rifai pointed out that Palestinian journalists and media people are unable to carry out their work work as a result of "Facebook’s unfair policy, which doesn’t pay attention to professional work standards. This puts the Palestinian narrative on Facebook in real danger.”
He said the campaign had sent a letter to the Middle East management of Facebook to condemn the policy, adding that he “isn’t very optimistic” about receiving a positive response.
“We will receive the same justification, which isn’t new anymore, that Facebook is an American company committed to renouncing terrorism as part of an agreement with the American government.
Dahoud Abu Dalfeh, a Gaza-based journalist who said his Facebook account had been deleted in September for “using content that is against Facebook policy,” said that “Facebook management sees using Palestinian symbols, names or political parties as incitement to violence, regardless of the nature of the work of the publisher.”
He insists he was not trying to provoke anyone.
“I was just doing my job when I lost my account,” he explained.
“Even when we cover news regarding Lebanon, we can’t use terms concerning Hezbollah or its leader Hassan Nasrallah,” he continued claiming he cannot object to or report accounts being deleted.
"When we try, we receive a message that an unknown error has occurred, which creates another issue.” he said.
Abu Dalfeh said Facebook management “does not handle the escalating Israeli incitement against Palestinians the same way or use similar algorithms, which makes it biased toward Israel.”
In August, the Sada Center documented more than 17 violations against Palestinian content on social media, most of them on Facebook, “which created a need for the center and other activists to protest against Facebook managerial procedures rather than just continue to monitor its violations.”
Ali Bikhat, a Palestinian social media analyst and head of the Social Media Club at The Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development, claimed that “there has been coordination between Israeli authorities and the management of Facebook.
On the Palestinian side, there isn’t any diplomatic effort to reach agreement with site management to reduce its policy or end it.”
For this reason, he advocates for a more proactive approach.
“We must communicate with Facebook management in regard to these terms in order to change the policy and highlight its manipulation in dealing with Israeli incitement over Palestinian content,” Bikhat said.
The goal of the campaign should be “ending Facebook’s policy against Palestinians accounts,” he added.
“Facebook policy eliminates the Palestinian existence and narrative on its site, which supports and serves the Israeli narrative,” he insisted. “Even if the campaign doesn’t end the policy, at least it highlights the case widely and raises awareness.”
A social media campaign rejecting what it calls "violations" of Facebook rules by censoring Palestinian content has been launched by Palestinian journalists and activists.
The campaign in cooperation with Sada Social Center, which monitors social media violations against Palestinian content, is calling on users to tweet using the hashtag #FBblockspalestine by Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in order to highlight “the threat posed by Facebook against Palestinian content, and to make it public".
The campaign also hopes to reveal what it calls a policy of double standards by Facebook management in dealing with Israeli and Palestinian incitement on its site.
"Twitter is the first in a series of actions we will take,” says Eyad Rifai, head of Sada Social Center.
“Next week, we will meet with a group of institutions and potential partners to discuss ways to counter the attack on Palestinian content."
He warned action in the field will be taken at a later stage as well.
Rifai said the campaign aims to “protect the digital rights of the Palestinian people so they can practice their right of absolute freedom of speech via cyberspace without the involvement of Facebook management that "limits their freedoms while allowing Israeli users to incite against Arabs as well as call to kill them.”
He added: “Facebook has developed an algorithm that automatically deletes users' posts and accounts if they include names of Palestinian political parties, for example ‘Hamas,’ ‘Jihad,’ ‘Popular Front,’ ‘Qassam,’ ‘Saraya’ and ‘Islamic Jihad,’ or names of martyrs, leaders and others without looking at the context in which they were posted, which sets a historic precedent for infringement on media freedom.”
Rifai pointed out that Palestinian journalists and media people are unable to carry out their work work as a result of "Facebook’s unfair policy, which doesn’t pay attention to professional work standards. This puts the Palestinian narrative on Facebook in real danger.”
He said the campaign had sent a letter to the Middle East management of Facebook to condemn the policy, adding that he “isn’t very optimistic” about receiving a positive response.
“We will receive the same justification, which isn’t new anymore, that Facebook is an American company committed to renouncing terrorism as part of an agreement with the American government.
Dahoud Abu Dalfeh, a Gaza-based journalist who said his Facebook account had been deleted in September for “using content that is against Facebook policy,” said that “Facebook management sees using Palestinian symbols, names or political parties as incitement to violence, regardless of the nature of the work of the publisher.”
He insists he was not trying to provoke anyone.
“I was just doing my job when I lost my account,” he explained.
“Even when we cover news regarding Lebanon, we can’t use terms concerning Hezbollah or its leader Hassan Nasrallah,” he continued claiming he cannot object to or report accounts being deleted.
"When we try, we receive a message that an unknown error has occurred, which creates another issue.” he said.
Abu Dalfeh said Facebook management “does not handle the escalating Israeli incitement against Palestinians the same way or use similar algorithms, which makes it biased toward Israel.”
In August, the Sada Center documented more than 17 violations against Palestinian content on social media, most of them on Facebook, “which created a need for the center and other activists to protest against Facebook managerial procedures rather than just continue to monitor its violations.”
Ali Bikhat, a Palestinian social media analyst and head of the Social Media Club at The Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development, claimed that “there has been coordination between Israeli authorities and the management of Facebook.
On the Palestinian side, there isn’t any diplomatic effort to reach agreement with site management to reduce its policy or end it.”
For this reason, he advocates for a more proactive approach.
“We must communicate with Facebook management in regard to these terms in order to change the policy and highlight its manipulation in dealing with Israeli incitement over Palestinian content,” Bikhat said.
The goal of the campaign should be “ending Facebook’s policy against Palestinians accounts,” he added.
“Facebook policy eliminates the Palestinian existence and narrative on its site, which supports and serves the Israeli narrative,” he insisted. “Even if the campaign doesn’t end the policy, at least it highlights the case widely and raises awareness.”
17 sept 2019
The Israeli authorities released late last night with strict conditions Widad Barghouti, an instructor in the media department at Birzeit University near Ramallah, who was detained for 16 days for no clear reason, according to sources at her village of Kobar, northwest of Ramallah.
They told WAFA that an Israeli court decided to release Barghouti, 61, on a bail of $12,000 and banished her from her home in Kobar to the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, where she will be under house arrest.
She was also banned from posting anything on social media until the time when the court issues a final sentence regarding her.
Two of Barghouti’s sons, Carmel and Qassam, are currently detained by Israel.
They told WAFA that an Israeli court decided to release Barghouti, 61, on a bail of $12,000 and banished her from her home in Kobar to the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, where she will be under house arrest.
She was also banned from posting anything on social media until the time when the court issues a final sentence regarding her.
Two of Barghouti’s sons, Carmel and Qassam, are currently detained by Israel.
12 sept 2019
The social network says it had suspended the bot connected to the prime minister account for 24 hours after an inflammatory post, allegedly unauthorized, claiming 'all Arabs want to destroy us' appeared on his page
Facebook says it has sanctioned the page of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of a violation of the company's hate speech policy after an inflammatory post aimed against Israel's Arab population appeared on his official social media page.
Facebook said on Thursday that the social network had suspended for 24 hours the page's bot, or automated chat function.
The page had called on voters to prevent the establishment of a government composed of "Arabs who want to destroy us all - women, children and men." The post sparked uproar by opposition politicians.
Netanyahu denied he wrote the post in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet radio. He said it was a staffer's mistake and the post was removed.
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said his party had appealed to Facebook in order to have the post taken down.
Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival ahead of elections next week and has been shoring up nationalist voters with feisty language and hard-line promises.
Facebook says it has sanctioned the page of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of a violation of the company's hate speech policy after an inflammatory post aimed against Israel's Arab population appeared on his official social media page.
Facebook said on Thursday that the social network had suspended for 24 hours the page's bot, or automated chat function.
The page had called on voters to prevent the establishment of a government composed of "Arabs who want to destroy us all - women, children and men." The post sparked uproar by opposition politicians.
Netanyahu denied he wrote the post in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet radio. He said it was a staffer's mistake and the post was removed.
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said his party had appealed to Facebook in order to have the post taken down.
Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival ahead of elections next week and has been shoring up nationalist voters with feisty language and hard-line promises.
5 sept 2019
Social media websites have continued their crackdown on the Palestinian content, disregarding all professional and human rights standards and ethics concerning the question of the Palestinian people who continue to live under Israeli military occupation.
Sada Social Center, which monitors social media violations of the Palestinian content, documented more than 17 violations against Palestinian content on social media in August, most of them on Facebook, which presents itself as a safe and free space of personal opinions and beliefs.
For instance, the center said, Facebook committed 15 violations ranging from ban, removal, publication and deletion of publications.
Restrictions were further imposed on the following Palestinian pages: Aneen Al-Qaid, The Higher National Commission of the Great March of Return, Ramallah Mix, Jerusalem Committee – Yarmouk University, Qalandia Media Center, Palestine Media Center and Artist Qassem Al Najjar.
On the other hand, Instagram removed a number of publications posed by the Palestine Liberation Radio.
Meanwhile, YouTube deleted a video featuring the will of slain Palestinian Raed Misk, from the account of his son, Momen Misk.
As part of Sada Social Center’s ongoing efforts to protect and defend the Palestinian content, the center has managed to restore five Palestinian pages that were deleted by Facebook: Jenin Mix, Beit Fajjar Times, Beit Furik Times, Yatta Times, and Lovers of Tell Village.
In the meantime, PNN reports, Facebook has admitted to violating the privacy of its users by listening to all voice conversations through its Messenger application, and that it has hired hundreds of contractors to listen to the audio clips exchanged by users.
Facebook also announced its intention to use artificial intelligence algorithms in its WhatsApp application, through which it will search the content of messages before encrypting and sending them.
“This paves the way for governments to force social media companies to spy on their users’ messages,” the center said, in a press release.
Sada Social Center said that it is continuing its efforts to “continuously communicate with the administrations of social media sites in an attempt to protect the Palestinian digital content and access a fair and equitable mechanism towards Palestinian users.”
Launched in early September 2017, SCC is a volunteering center concerned with initiatives to enrich Palestinian content on the internet, especially on social networking websites, and monitor the violations against this content from different parties.
Sada Social Center, which monitors social media violations of the Palestinian content, documented more than 17 violations against Palestinian content on social media in August, most of them on Facebook, which presents itself as a safe and free space of personal opinions and beliefs.
For instance, the center said, Facebook committed 15 violations ranging from ban, removal, publication and deletion of publications.
Restrictions were further imposed on the following Palestinian pages: Aneen Al-Qaid, The Higher National Commission of the Great March of Return, Ramallah Mix, Jerusalem Committee – Yarmouk University, Qalandia Media Center, Palestine Media Center and Artist Qassem Al Najjar.
On the other hand, Instagram removed a number of publications posed by the Palestine Liberation Radio.
Meanwhile, YouTube deleted a video featuring the will of slain Palestinian Raed Misk, from the account of his son, Momen Misk.
As part of Sada Social Center’s ongoing efforts to protect and defend the Palestinian content, the center has managed to restore five Palestinian pages that were deleted by Facebook: Jenin Mix, Beit Fajjar Times, Beit Furik Times, Yatta Times, and Lovers of Tell Village.
In the meantime, PNN reports, Facebook has admitted to violating the privacy of its users by listening to all voice conversations through its Messenger application, and that it has hired hundreds of contractors to listen to the audio clips exchanged by users.
Facebook also announced its intention to use artificial intelligence algorithms in its WhatsApp application, through which it will search the content of messages before encrypting and sending them.
“This paves the way for governments to force social media companies to spy on their users’ messages,” the center said, in a press release.
Sada Social Center said that it is continuing its efforts to “continuously communicate with the administrations of social media sites in an attempt to protect the Palestinian digital content and access a fair and equitable mechanism towards Palestinian users.”
Launched in early September 2017, SCC is a volunteering center concerned with initiatives to enrich Palestinian content on the internet, especially on social networking websites, and monitor the violations against this content from different parties.