Nabhan Khraishi
Palestinians use social media platforms heavily, due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation on their movement, and its isolation of population communities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the occupied interior from each other, in a way that makes it difficult to communicate between them, in addition to the fact that they use these platforms for publishing as an available means of expressing opinion, not to mention what these platforms offer, to raise internal political and social issues, often do not find their way to publish in traditional media, whether official or private.
The Israeli Information Epidemic
A report of the company (Ebook for Information Technology), on the use of Palestinian social media platforms in 2023, stated that the percentage of users of these platforms reached 53.1% of males and 46.3% of females, while the rates of use of social media platforms were as follows: Facebook 95.16%, Twitter 26.14%, YouTube 81.53%, and Instagram 63.28%, while the percentage of smartphone use among users reached 83%.
About 72% of Internet users in Palestine are exposed to a constant infusion of false news and disinformation, of which Israeli sources reach about 54%
Research by the Arab Centre for the Development of Social Media on fake news targeting the Palestinian public revealed that about 72% of Internet users in Palestine are exposed to a continuous infusion of false news and misleading information, the percentage of which Israeli sources reach about 54%, while various Arab and foreign media followed by Palestinians broadcast 18% of that news. In addition, Arab activists on social media platforms play a major role in spreading rumors and false news, in addition to the involvement of Palestinian media institutions in broadcasting lies, rumors, and false news! To polish its image to obtain support in world public opinion, to incite against Palestinians, and for other intelligence purposes, the Israeli Foreign Ministry formed a public diplomacy department, consisting of 350 digital and social platforms, and 20 websites in 7 languages, not to mention 80 websites for its embassies abroad. From these platforms and sites, what is Arabic-speaking is directed to Arab people, to penetrate them and to be aware of them, including the “Israel Speaks Arabic” page on Facebook, with 1.4 million followers, the “Coordinator” page with 620 thousand followers, the page of Avichai Adrai about 1.6 million followers, and the “Ophir Gendlman” page with about 156,000. During the Israeli war on Gaza, we witnessed lies sourced from the highest levels in Israel, the most famous of which was the lie of beheading children during the October 7 attack, a news that came from a single Israeli news report adopted by Netanyahu’s office, to spread like wildfire through social media platforms. In the first weeks of its war on Gaza, Israel, through its influence on decision-making centers in the administrations of several communication platforms, especially Facebook, was able to violate Palestinian digital freedoms, as the (Sada Social Centre) recorded more than three thousand violations during November 2023. This comes after a graphical analysis of the content of the TikTok platform showed that 54 views were recorded in favor of Palestinian content, compared to one view in favor of Israeli content, which prompted Israeli, European, and American officials specialized in digital space, to hold a meeting with Xu Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, to discuss ways to reduce the spread of Palestinian content and increase the Israeli.
Intelligence in the digital space
According to the BBC, there are many accounts on the X platform, which use old videos from wars around the world, claiming to be from the war in Palestine right now. Studies report that one in five accounts involved in publications about the Gaza war are fake accounts, possibly produced by robots programmed to deploy automatically, or to people with false identities. Most of the Israeli pages in the social media space are designed in the form of media sites, with news content, to pass messages that suit the Israeli narrative, and create a fake Facebook world free of replacement, in which the Palestinian lives with his Israeli occupier in peace. The Israeli intelligence service (Shabak) is publicly active on social media, through its Facebook pages, such as the “We want to live” page, in addition to the chat channels of officers from the agency, for intelligence purposes, and penetration of Palestinian society, supervised by psychologists, marketing experts, and specialists in sociology and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. Surfers of social media in Palestine are exposed to a large flood of Israeli news, reports, and film clips, some of which include false or misleading information, in the form of real materials, to manipulate public opinion, although such news, some of them may contain a small amount of “facts”, but they are inaccurate in their entirety, leading to harm to the public, to achieve Israel’s security interests, and to influence the cohesion of Palestinian society and create a state of confusion in it.
Information literacy
On the internal Palestinian level, the spread of false news and misinformation has occurred and there is nothing wrong, as what contributes to its spread is a great journalistic dependence sometimes on the means of communication as a source of news, in addition to the absence of professional standards and practices in this environment, not to mention the control of partisan and political passions, in confirming or lying the news. Despite the different sources of misleading news and their goals, the common denominator between them created a state of confusion and tension and fuelled internal arguments. The digital technological revolution has created a generation addicted to the use of smartphones, and the consequent negative use of them, without censorship of content, especially what is published through social networks, which led to the spread of hate speech, misleading news, not to mention electronic tracking, by governments and Internet service providers, to achieve a profit goal or to serve certain agendas. Information literacy through school and university curricula in Palestine may reduce the negative effects of the information epidemic that is spreading in the digital space, but it faces several obstacles, including the scarcity of financial resources to achieve this, in addition to the lack of modern electronic devices and equipment that help in generalizing it, in addition to the weak skills of school teachers, in the use of new media technology, not to mention the scarcity of qualified competencies in the field of media and information education, in educational institutions and civil society organizations. However, activating the role of Palestinian universities in promoting media education, through the presentation of courses as university requirements, helps to educate students about ethical behaviors and social responsibility, and to confront the bad use of the media, especially Social media, which is a suitable environment for spreading hate speech, spreading false news and disinformation. According to the Ministry of Education, the General Department of Public Relations and the National Institute of Administration and Training, carried out information courses for 400 media coordinators in public schools in 2023, within the framework of the “School Media Coordinator” project, on the concepts and importance of media education, how to benefit from them and to develop their skills and invest various media tools and windows.
The adoption of media literacy programs and educational curricula in Palestinian public and private schools enables students to think critically, “click” wisely, and enhances the capabilities of teachers and educators in general, to formulate information literacy policies and strategies, and enables them to deal with critically and effectively with information, and other forms of digital content, using digital technologies, to confront misinformation and false news. The erasing of information literacy in Palestine requires the creation of an appropriate and encouraging legal environment for informatics in all its forms, foremost of which is the adoption of the law on the right to access to information, and the review of laws that repel informatics and freedom of the press, such as the Publications and Publication Law of 1995 and the Electronic Crimes Law.
Nabhan Khraishi
Palestinian writer Palestinian journalist and writer, who worked in Palestinian, Arab, and international press and media institutions, Master’s in Radio and Television Journalism, from Syracuse University in the United States.
The Arabic text here was first published by alquds.com
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