Social media platforms have undergone significant shifts since the onset of the Gaza conflict. Users on Meta platforms were taken aback as their posts supporting Palestinians were unexpectedly censored. This move by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, triggered allegations of bias and manipulation of “community protection” standards in the online realm.
Prior to the second week of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Meta, following criticism from the European Union, disclosed the deletion of over 795,000 posts in Arabic and Hebrew, deeming them “disturbing or illegal” concerning the conflict. This conflict became a litmus test for the European Union’s Digital Services Act, operational earlier in the year, urging companies to appoint more content moderators and employ strategies to curb the spread of misinformation.
Israel was quick to recognize the significance of the parallel digital war on social media platforms. One online influencer, Hananya Naftali, associated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced his withdrawal from the physical battleground to focus entirely on the ongoing social media struggle.
Naftali conveyed on X: “I’ve been summoned from the frontline to another arena: the digital war. Henceforth, I’ve returned to engage in this war between good and evil. It’s inconceivable that, even in such times, Israel is expected to justify its position. We are defending our homes and families.”
Noteworthy is Naftali’s initial claim, following the Israeli airstrike on Al-Maqsadani Hospital in Gaza, that the Israeli Air Force targeted a Hamas site within the hospital. However, faced with vehement backlash against this brutal strike, he retracted the tweet and began advocating the unsupported Israeli narrative that Hamas had mistakenly hit the hospital with a misfired rocket, later adjusting the story to implicate the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
Despite European warnings of legal repercussions for tech companies if content supporting “Hamas” and scenes of violence were not removed, X demonstrated a clear departure in handling Palestinian narratives of the war.
According to digital media specialist Mohamed Fathi, X derived the most benefit from these events, asserting that it “became the sole platform where users could publish their content without stringent restrictions.”
Fathi added, in remarks to “Al-Sharq,” that despite challenges faced by Elon Musk, “his policies haven’t changed,” referring to his provision of options for videos and images that allow users to decide whether to view them. This is done without the platform hastily deciding on deletion or account suspension, as long as the content falls under the banner of “freedom of opinion and expression.”
This sentiment aligns with the perspective of communications and information sector expert Hani Al-Alami, who noted that X recorded fewer deleted tweets or instances of content concealment, highlighting that the highest figures for deletion and freezing were attributed to “Facebook” and “Instagram.”
Digital platform strategies and e-marketing specialist Mohamed Atef viewed Musk’s approach to dealing with the Gaza conflict as “not a triumph for freedom of expression or any other cause.” Atef indicated that the American billionaire “sought to exploit the crisis for his benefit only, to offset the diminished appeal of his social network due to his modifications regarding content monetization and verification policies and the flow of tweets.”
However, Atef added, “The above does not overlook that X has been a source of diversity in ideas and different perspectives from the beginning of the war, and content was not selectively deleted as it happened on Facebook and its siblings,” in his expression.
As accusations from Arab users against Meta platforms and Western media for adopting only the Israeli narrative increased, the American billionaire reposted a satirical video on his account featuring American comedian Jon Stewart, illustrating the significant backlash faced by anyone criticizing both sides in this conflict, commenting: “That clip was posted 9 years ago.”
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