Censoring Palestine: Malaysia’s pushback  can cause a ripple effect

On October 26, Malaysia slammed tech companies Tiktok and Meta for allegedly attempting to block pro-Palestinian content on their platforms. The communications minister, Fahmi Fadzil said Malaysian authorities are prepared to take concrete action, with Article 10 of the country’s constitution enshrining "freedom of speech."

Meta has rejected the allegation, saying its policies safeguard people on its apps and provide “everyone a voice.” TikTok said it would implement proactive measures to tackle the issue.

Fahmi said if the matter is “ignored,” he will adopt “a very firm approach and stance". He said Malaysians have a right to freedom of speech concerning the Palestinian cause and such a right will not be taken away. The official is expected to meet with Tiktok this week.

Nidaa Bassoumi, a Palestinian and Media coordinator at Sada Social, an organisation driving Palestinian digital rights, welcomes Fahmi’s steps against Meta and TikTok.

“This, for Sada Social, reflects the Malaysian government's awareness of the importance of social media platforms in delivering news to the Malaysian community,” she tells TRT World.

Since its inception in 2017, Sada Social has been monitoring the “continuous violations and attempts to block Palestinian content across various social media platforms.” These include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Bassoumi says pro-Palestinian voices typically find their pages and accounts deleted or face restrictive measures. This includes content removal, access restrictions, live streaming bans, and interaction restrictions. She says the measures are widespread - affecting regular users, Palestinian media and “influential” people supporting the Palestinian cause.

The potential impact of Malaysia's engagement with TikTok and Meta could end up being felt both locally and globally, according to Associate Professor Ali Murat Kirik of the Faculty of Communication at Marmara University in Istanbul, Türkiye.

“Locally, the Malaysian government's commitment to regulate the content of social media platforms may encourage other governments to take similar steps. This could lead to social media platforms becoming more accountable for freedom of expression and transparency,” Kirik tells TRT World.

Globally, Malaysia's actions “could trigger a push for social media platforms to adapt themselves to different cultural contexts,” he says, referencing “Malaysia's prominent role in political events such as the Arab Spring.” As such, he says TikTok and Meta may want to “adapt their content and policies to better meet the needs and expectations of users in Malaysia.”

However, the potential impact of Malaysia's relations with TikTok and Meta remains unclear, says Kirik.

But, the Turkish academic says it’s likely “to shape the debate” on content regulation of social media platforms and freedom of expression.

Global Palestinian censorship

Across the globe, analysts note numerous reasons why pro-Palestinian content is silenced and censored at what they say are disproportionately high rates.

According to Eric Sype, US National Organizer of 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media - the state of Israel holds a special relationship with Meta. Former high ranking officials in the Israeli government now hold leadership positions in the company.

Launched a decade ago, 7amleh is a non-profit organisation propelling Palestinian digital rights. Its aim is "to create a safe, fair and free digital space for Palestinians." Among its wider initiatives, it offers research and monitoring of Palestinian activism.

In addition to other trends, Sype says in times of crisis, Meta has suspiciously experienced "bugs" and "glitches" on multiple occasions that resulted in the censorship of Palestinian content.

While many prominent Palestinian journalists and human rights defenders on the ground use social media as an avenue for documentation of human rights violations, he says the organisation has observed a trend of Meta in particular to state that the graphic nature of such documentation justifies censorship.

According to Kirik, a number of additional impediments exist. These range from censorship and blocking by pro-Zionist groups and individuals. Such actors, he says, typically use social media platforms to censor and block pro-Palestinian content and accounts. This limits the visibility and accessibility of pro-Palestinian voices.

He says users also often face "anti-Palestinian bias" with Social media platforms' algorithms possessing anti-Palestinian biases. It commonly results in pro-Palestinian content being less visible and receiving less engagement.

“In a statement from the European Commission, it was reported that an official request for information was sent to the Meta and TikTok platforms under the Digital Services Act. Accordingly, the request was made after the Commission received allegations of the spread of illegal content and disinformation, particularly terrorism, violent broadcasts and hate speech, following Hamas attacks on Israel. However, this situation has turned into a complete censorship,” says Kirik.

From his research, Kirik says disinformation is also on the rise. Most recently, he says shadow banning is one of many ways Palestinian content is silenced and censored.

"Unfortunately, non-transparent corporate policies such as censorship and shadow banning on social media have become an obstacle to freedom of the press," Kirik says.

Palestinian censorship online increases during escalations

Research by Sada Social suggests bids to block Palestinian content commonly intensify amid escalations in Palestinian territories, either in the occupied West Bank or besieged Gaza.

Bassoumi says Sada Social has documented over 8,000 violations since the start of war on October 7 - when Hamas' attack on Israel killed over 1,400 Israelis.

Israel then launched a heavy barrage of airstrikes. The death toll in Gaza now stands at 8,525, as the enclave continues to face Israel’s blockade on food, water, fuel and electricity. Tensions remain high with Israel calling on citizens to evacuate the north as Israeli forces push into Gaza.

Bassoumi says the violations stem from specific requests made directly to the platforms by the Israeli Attorney General's office. It “submitted 5,200 requests to platforms for the removal of Palestinian content, with 4,500 of these requests being complied with”.

Kirik says such silencing pro-Palestinian voices across digital platforms and social media represents a “significant setback for public discourse and diversity of opinion. This prevents the Palestinian cause and the voice of the Palestinian people from being heard, and makes it difficult to build public understanding of Israel's actions.”

He describes pro-Palestinian voices as an “important source of exposure of Israel's human rights violations and atrocities against the Palestinian people. These voices condemn Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and displacement of the Palestinian people. Silencing pro-Palestinian voices reduces awareness of these violations and atrocities and helps legitimize Israel's actions.”

More widely, Kirik says pro-Palestinian voices reflect a diversity of opinion in public discourse that is “an essential element of a healthy democracy” and warns that legacy media also has an important role in covering the situation in the Middle East.

“Media outlets should adopt a balanced and impartial approach in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Equally representing the perspectives and views of all sides provides audiences with a more holistic view,” he says.

Weaponising a narrative ‘to justify the collective punishment’

Nevertheless, analysts are pointing to what they say is partisan coverage - with dominant Western-centric narratives.

“The mainstream western media has always, and throughout this crisis, continues to show an extreme bias against Palestine, and in favour of Israel. When mainstream media outlets show such a bias, social media is left as one of the only means for Palestinians to share their perspectives, and for the world to see what the realities are like on the ground for Palestinians,” says Sype.

He says there are no foreign journalists in Gaza while some of the most up to date and detailed documentation of events in Gaza stem from Palestinian citizen journalists on social media.

“When these perspectives are silenced, there is a lack of understanding of the scope of suffering in Palestine, a lack of contextual analysis of the larger situation, and an extremely biassed narrative gets pushed out internationally that has been weaponized by the state of Israel to justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Sype tells TRT World.

Experts also note the prominence of hate speech and incitement to violence in Hebrew on social media targeting Palestinians.

Sada Social says it has observed more than 13,000 tweets and content across various platforms that incite violence against Palestinians, calling for their killing, extermination, and imposing blockades on them.

At the start of the crisis, 7amleh launched a "Violence Indicator" that is updated in real time. It has already documented over a half a million posts containing what it says is hate speech and incitement to violence in Hebrew targeting Palestinians. The non-profit says there are also groups on Telegram that "openly call for the killing of prominent Palestinians, as well as posting the address of Palestinian events, and organise attacks against Palestinians."

"In February of this year, we saw continued incitement against the Palestinian village of Huwara on X (formerly Twitter) lead to a pogrom. During this most recent crisis, we have seen an even stronger correlation between online violence, and real world harm. This lack of content moderation poses a serious risk to Palestinians and must be addressed," says Sype.

The clamp down of the “Palestinian narrative” across social media has led to deep concern for Bassoumi.

“This will result in a loss of global support and sympathy for Palestinians on one hand, and it will diminish the possibility of pressuring people to urge their governments to halt financial and military support for the government of Israel, described as an apartheid regime by international organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch,” she says.

Bassoumi says such actions entail more violations against Palestinians on the ground that include killings, arrests, and the suppression of freedom of speech and expression.

“Importantly, the future history of Palestinians will be written based on the digital archive. It is concerning and alarming that this content may not be found simply because social media platforms have decided to silence Palestinians.”