Digital Rights Weekly Update: 3 -9 October

From productive force to destructive force: Digital colonialism in Palestine

Bianet

For over a century, settler colonialism and apparatuses of violence in Palestine have evolved, and in recent years they have fused with digital technologies to form a new regime of destruction. Israel and its military, in partnership with state actors—chiefly the United States—and global tech corporations, have combined drones, cloud infrastructure, biometric surveillance, and signal intelligence to build an extensive digital network that monitors, controls, and targets millions of Palestinians. This network ensures the continuity of settler colonial domination, but since October 2023 it has taken on a deadlier form: “artificial intelligence,” “big data,” and automated systems have become direct tools of genocide. Palestine represents the most extreme form of this global digital colonialism: here, technology not only produces economic dependency but also transforms into a mechanism that automates the physical annihilation and genocide central to settler colonialism. Israel has extended its territorial control into digital networks, colonizing the realms of communication, data flow, and narrative production. 

2 years of genocide: Big Tech complicit in Israel’s destruction of Gaza?

AA

According to Albanese's report, the Israeli military has developed artificial intelligence systems, such as “Lavender”, “Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy?” to process data and generate lists of targets, reshaping modern warfare and illustrating the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence. Palantir Technologies Inc., whose tech collaboration with Israel long predates October 2023, expanded its support to the Israeli military post-October 2023, it said. Jalal Abukhater, an advocacy manager at 7amleh, a Palestinian digital rights organization, points out that Israel’s military lacks the capacity to analyze all collected data internally, pushing it to outsource to tech firms. “So, the Israeli military has developed and it boasts that it has developed those AI targeting systems, but what we are observing is that through the collaboration with private companies, those companies might not be fully aware of the end of how Israel's military is using the services,” he said.

An attack on a young Palestinian shows just how much Israel is surveilling the West Bank

The Canary

According to an article titled IDF Troops Are Now Going Through Palestinian Phones: Anything Forbidden Provokes Abuse in the Israeli publication Haaretz, the IOF are increasingly searching Palestinian phones during operations, scrutinizing photos, messages, or any content deemed forbidden. When such content is found, Palestinians often face verbal and physical abuse, humiliation, or destruction of their devices. These phone searches happen at checkpoints or during home raids, with soldiers sometimes demanding passwords or forcibly unlocking devices. This practice is part of a broader escalation of Israeli digital surveillance and control over Palestinian lives in the West Bank serving as a testing ground for advanced surveillance technologies. This surveillance extends beyond phones to the monitoring of Palestinian homes and communities, through advanced surveillance tools, including AI-based facial recognition and real-time tracking systems, which are actively used to identify and detain Palestinians, intensifying control, restricting freedom of movement, and deepening repression.

From Myanmar to Gaza, Meta’s Double Standard Has Deadly Consequences

Mille

In Gaza, the tragedy extends far beyond bombs and blockades. It unfolds online, in digital spaces controlled and shaped by Meta. Owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the tech giant shapes how the world sees (or ignores) Palestinian suffering. With over 3.35 billion daily users, Meta is omnipresent in the lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike: 65% of Palestinians and 87% of Israelis use its platforms. In a context where freedom of press is curtailed, these networks have become lifelines, archives of war crimes, and spaces of resistance. Yet behind the promise of “connecting the world,” Meta applies a stark double standard. According to 7amleh’s report— a digital rights and human rights activist group for Palestinians—  the company has not only failed to protect Palestinian digital rights, it has actively contributed to their erasure. By allowing incitement to hatred and violence against Palestinians while systematically censoring their narratives, Meta has turned its algorithms into active instruments of dehumanization.

How Facebook Monetizes Police and Military Pages

What To Fix

From the Philippines to Israel, the US, UK, Europe and beyond, our research reveals numerous police and military pages currently or previously enrolled in Facebook’s revenue redistribution programs. Many of these pages are blue-tick verified and clearly labeled as representing a “law enforcement agency” or “government organization”. Government-affiliated entities are typically subject to financial disclosure requirements and regulatory oversight, which is likely why Facebook’s partner monetization policies explicitly prohibit ‘government agencies and departments’ from enrolling in its monetization services. As state-funded, public entities, police and military units would be expected to fall into that category. As of 20 September 2025, however, Meta's partner-publisher list — which catalogues current participants in the company’s revenue redistribution programs — includes numerous police and military pages.