Over 25,000 Digital Violations Targeting Palestinian Content in 2024 – Report
The numerous violations included content removal, shadow banning, account breaches, and incitement campaigns.
A Ramallah-based digital rights organization has reported a significant spike in digital violations, documenting more than 25,000 violations targeting Palestinian content across various platforms in its latest report.
“The report exposes a sustained and aggressive digital campaign aimed at erasing Palestinian narratives, especially those documenting Israeli crimes,” Sada Social said in its annual report released on April 30.
Sada Social’s 2024 Digital Index:
⏩️ 25K+ violations against Palestinian content
⏩️ 87K+ hate posts
⏩️ Most-censored: Martyrs (86.8%), Israeli aggression (60.5%)
📍Full report: https://t.co/N9fAljZQ8r pic.twitter.com/Dwo3fRlpND
— صدى سوشال – Sada Social (@SadaSocialPs) April 30, 2025
According to the report, Israeli authorities and aligned entities are using advanced digital tools to suppress Palestinian voices, the organization said.
These tools “include manipulated digital mapping platforms and artificial intelligence-based content moderation systems that censor, distort, and erase Palestinian identity online.”
Journalists, Influencers Targeted
Sada Social stressed that Palestinian journalists and influencers, in particular, have come “under systematic attack, facing account suspensions, content takedowns, restricted reach, and organized campaigns of incitement across social media platforms.”
The numerous violations included content removal, shadow banning, account breaches, and incitement campaigns, which the organization said was “organized or fueled by Israeli actors.”
In its annual report “The Digital Index 2024”, Sada Social documented 51 Codes of Hostility Toward Palestine used to justify attacks against Palestinians in the #Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as against Palestine supporters worldwide. pic.twitter.com/BCEEJUDG2I
— صدى سوشال – Sada Social (@SadaSocialPs) May 10, 2025
The report, it noted, also highlights “the increasing use of digital blackout measures, including repeated internet and telecommunications shutdowns in the Gaza Strip during Israeli military operations—measures that effectively isolate Palestinians during moments of crisis.”
Shame on @Meta for taking my post on the systematic persecution of Palestinans down! They consider my post, which only included links to established human rights NGOs, references to international law, and international Courts to be spam!
Stop pro-Palestinian censorship! pic.twitter.com/s3OgdP45OL— Mina Thabet (@minathabet1) May 10, 2025
Hate Speech
In total, Sada Social “documented over 25,000 digital violations” during 2024.
These violations were most frequent on Instagram (31%), followed by TikTok (27%), Facebook (24%), X (formerly Twitter) at 12%, YouTube at 5%, and SoundCloud at 1%, the organization said.
The report also draws attention to “a sharp rise in hate speech and explicit incitement” against Palestinians and their supporters globally.
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This, the organization noted, includes inflammatory statements rejecting humanitarian aid to Gaza and calls for the expulsion of Palestinians, execution of prisoners, and attacks on villages in the West Bank.
Sada Social monitored over 87,000 inciting posts, many attributed to high-ranking Israeli officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it said.
The platforms most commonly used for this incitement were Telegram (41%), X/Twitter (35%), Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram (18%), and websites (18.71%), while YouTube accounted for another 6%.
‘Genocidal Rhetoric’
“Many of these posts contained genocidal rhetoric, including Smotrich’s infamous statement about ‘altering the region’s DNA’ and open references to deploying Israel’s ‘Samson Option’—a term for its nuclear weapons capability—in Gaza,” Sada Social said.
Journalists and media outlets were “particularly affected” by these digital violations.
Israeli officials have openly told you their INTENT to starve, destroy and conquer Gaza, and ethnically cleanse Palestinians.
This publicly stated intention—coupled with the mass slaughter and destruction that everyone can see—is what makes it GENOCIDE. Call it what it is. pic.twitter.com/cbqSDsdgdZ
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 9, 2025
According to the report, 29 percent of all documented violations specifically targeted journalists and media organizations, and 20 percent of these involved female journalists.
“Common violations included the deletion of posts, visibility restrictions, and full account removals,” the organization noted.
Moreover, Sada Social received over 1,200 complaints from journalists reporting hacking attempts—most of them on Meta platforms—as well as 236 complaints about incitement in Hebrew via WhatsApp, SMS, and hostile comments on news-related posts.
Public Opinion
In addition to monitoring violations, the report includes the results of a public opinion survey conducted among users inside and outside of Palestine, Sada Official noted.
The survey revealed that a large proportion of users experienced restrictions when posting about Gaza: 68.4% on Facebook, 65.8% on Instagram, 36.2% on TikTok, and 14.5% on X.
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“The most-censored topics were content about Palestinian martyrs (86.8%), Israeli aggression (60.5%), general expressions of support for Palestine (53.3%), Palestinian factions (51.3%), Palestinian prisoners (45.4%), wounded individuals (42.8%), and boycott campaigns against Israel (32.9%),” the organization noted.
(The Palestine Chronicle)