Horrifying Report: Big Companies Are Funding Genocide in Palestine

The Palestinian Human Rights Organization has exposed the active participation of major online platforms and technology giants in genocide against Palestinians. While the world watches in silence as the horrors unfold in Gaza, these digital partners are willingly advocating for Muslim rights. Platforms such as Meta, X, YouTube, and tech giants Google and Amazon are profiting from the carnage, while de facto hiding war crimes under the veil of the digital cloud, the report notes.

The findings are damning evidence that big tech companies, under the guise of neutrality, have become active participants in censorship, disinformation and incitement to violence. They provided critical infrastructure supporting Israel's military operations, allowing their platforms to be weaponized. They are also working to silence the voices of the Palestinians and create sympathy for the Zionists in the international community. It's fair to say that the cooperation of these platforms is not just negligence, but a conscious decision that puts profit before human rights.

A Palestinian silencing system

From October 2023 to July 2024, more than 1,350 cases of censorship were reported on major platforms such as Meta, Instagram, X and TikTok. These platforms have disproportionately targeted Palestinian journalists, activists and human rights defenders – with Meta being the leading offender in this process. Censorship took many forms: accounts were suspended, content was deleted, and pro-Palestinian views were severely restricted.

Changes to Meta's manipulative algorithm played a primary role in this censorship. During Israel's aggression in Gaza, Meta changed its content moderation policy to lower the threshold for banning Palestinian content, reduce the accuracy of its filters, and initiate unnecessary removals, the report said. Meta's anti-infringement filters for Palestinian content were only 25 percent accurate. These so-called "temporary threat response measures" were never lifted, leading to excessive scrutiny of Palestinian content creators. This is not an isolated incident – it is a calculated, discriminatory policy that stifles marginalized voices and prevents the free flow of information when it is most needed.

Meta's broken promises to protect freedom of expression, as well as biased content moderation, are making the situation worse for Palestinians, according to a report by 7amleh – the Arab Center for Social Media Development. Human Rights Watch has already condemned Meta for working in favor of Zionists during the war, with more than 1,050 Facebook and Instagram content removed. In almost all cases, this censorship has been directed against oppressed or pro-Palestinian content, allowing violent, anti-Muslim content to flourish unfettered. Comments such as "Free Palestine", "Stop Genocide" and "Stop shooting" have been removed under Meta's spam rules. Such injustice reflects a dangerous double standard that stifles legitimate political discourse.

Platforms as tools of genocide

The report clearly shows that online platforms have become tools for inciting genocide rather than just neutral forums. Between October 2023 and July 2024, more than 3,300 cases of malicious content, including incitement to genocide, were documented, most of which were on X and Facebook.

These platforms allowed high-level Israeli officials and other users to openly call for the extermination of Palestinians, to dehumanize them as "subhumans," "animals," and worse. This genocidal rhetoric was not confined to obscure corners of the internet. It has been promoted, amplified and left unchallenged by platforms that claim to be committed to societal standards and human rights.

For example, in December 2023, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem described blindfolded Palestinian prisoners as "ants" and called for them to be buried alive in a popular post on X. Although this post was eventually removed, countless others like it remain.

Not only are these platforms failing to protect freedom of speech, they are actively aiding the spread of genocidal propaganda.

Between October and November 2023, the Israeli government sent out more than 9,500 requests to remove content from Meta, and an astonishing 94 percent of them were complied with. Dealing with a state that actively commits war crimes raises serious concerns about the ethical boundaries of these companies. Meta's decision to enforce such demands without transparency or accountability reveals a deeper problem: that, if paid, these platforms are poised to become tools of oppression.

Project "Nimbus" and the automation of murder

Google and Amazon's cooperation with the Israeli military on Project Nimbus means that the technology industry has contributed to the bloodshed of innocent babies and women in this war. The report notes that the $1.2 billion cloud computing contract will provide critical infrastructure to power Israel's artificial intelligence-based targeting systems, Lavender and Gospel, which are involved in the mass execution of civilians.

In particular, the Lavender system works as an automated killer: it identifies targets based on large amounts of data and sends them to the Israeli army's bombing campaigns. In particular, the "Lavender" system alone identified more than 37 thousand potential targets and caused the death of thousands of civilians - women and children. By providing cloud services to facilitate this mass targeting, Google and Amazon are directly complicit in the massacre of Muslims. As the number of civilian casualties in Gaza continues to rise, both companies are participating in military operations under Israel's Nimbus project.

Hate speech and disinformation

The report documents a deluge of hate speech and disinformation, often led by Israeli officials and fueled by online platforms. The campaigns, which included the systematic distribution of inhumane content on Telegram, X and YouTube, targeted Palestinians both in the Gaza Strip and around the world. The report found three million anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian anti-Palestinian posts, the report said.

Perhaps most troubling is the Israeli government's influence operation called STOIC. The operation targets U.S. and Canadian lawmakers and uses artificial intelligence to spread fake news to discredit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA). This campaign led to the suspension of funding to UNRWA and the cutting off of critical humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through false information. This is not just an issue of moderation, but an example of how these platforms have been turned into a weapon by invaders against Muslims.

Profiting from Genocide: Advertising Against the Background of War Crimes

According to the investigation, Facebook posted ads calling for the killing of pro-Palestinian activists and the forced removal of Palestinians from the West Bank. Meta benefited from these campaigns and thus complicit in human rights abuses in Gaza.

At the same time, YouTube ran graphic ads aimed at swaying public opinion in favor of the Israeli government's military action in Gaza. Despite YouTube's policy against violent content, these ads have spread widely on social media, especially in Europe and the US, and have served to normalize war crimes under the guise of fighting terrorism.

Isn't it time to answer the crimes?

The results of this report should encourage the international community to stand on the side of truth and justice. Big tech companies can no longer be allowed to support the massacre of civilians, suffocate politics, and stifle free speech. The complicity of companies like Meta, X, YouTube, Google and Amazon in these atrocities must be addressed and held accountable. These platforms are profit-seeking corporations, not impartial arbiters of truth. They are willing to accommodate genocidal regimes and turn a blind eye to the suffering of millions if it benefits them. As the report states, it is time for the world to demand that these companies stop profiting from the deaths of Palestinians.

Ziyod Motala , Professor at Howard University Law School