Al Jazeera: Twitter Under Fire for Allegedly Censoring Palestinian Public Figures

story

Feb 28, 2023

Image copyright: aljazeerastory last updated Feb 28, 2023

The Facts

According to an Al Jazeera report published on Tuesday, digital rights groups are accusing Twitter and Facebook of censoring Palestinian journalists after a number of prominent accounts were suspended.
On Dec. 3, Washington, DC-based Palestinian journalist Said Arikat was suspended for nearly a month, which he believes was for being outspoken about Palestine and Israel. On Jan. 8, Noura Erakat, a Palestinian lawyer and human rights advocate, was suspended but was reinstated a day later.

The Spin

Pro-Palestine narrative

Palestinian voices have long been silenced by tech giants, and Twitter under Musk has continued this trend of suppressing journalists who speak out against abuses in the Middle East. Musk purports to be a free speech absolutist, yet his regime suspended a Palestinian journalist without reason — a dangerous violation of his rights that has been alarmingly ignored by the mainstream media.

ADC

Pro-Israel narrative

Said Arikat is a dangerous peddler of propaganda whose influence isn't limited to his following online. He deliberately slandered Israel at a State Department press briefing by saying an Israeli soldier had shot "point blank at an unarmed Palestinian," when in reality the officer was firing at a terrorist — just one of his many lies that can lead to anti-Semitic violence and shouldn't be tolerated.