At least #Perplexity got one thing right:

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Multiple #independent #investigations and #leaked #internal #data confirm that #SocialMedia platforms—especially #Meta (#Facebook and #Instagram)—have engaged in #widespread, #systematic #censorship of #pro-Palestinian #content, often in direct response to #Israeli #government #requests[1][2][3][4][6][7]. This censorship has resulted in the #removal, #suppression, or #shadowbanning of tens of thousands of #posts and #accounts, with a disproportionate impact on users from Arab and Muslim-majority countries, but also affecting users worldwide[2][3][4][6].

Key points from the evidence:

- Meta has complied with 94% of Israeli government takedown requests since October 7, 2023, resulting in over 90,000 immediate removals and the suppression of millions more posts through automated systems[2][3][4][6].
- The vast majority of these requests targeted #content #critical of #Israel or #supportive of #Palestinians, and only a tiny fraction targeted Israeli users[3][6].
- #HumanRightsWatch and other NGOs have documented this as a #global, #systemic pattern of #censorship, not isolated incidents[1][5][7].
- There is no comparable evidence of systematic censorship or suspension for users expressing pro-Israeli views; the #documented #bias overwhelmingly targets pro-Palestinian speech[1][2][3][4][5][6][7].

In summary, the documented reality is that pro-Palestinian views are aggressively censored on major social media sites, while pro-Israeli views do not face the same level of moderation or suppression. This creates a significant imbalance in the digital public sphere[1][2][3][4][6][7].

Citations:
[1] https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/21/metas-broken-promises/systemic-censorship-palestine-content-instagram-and
[2] https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/leaked-data-israeli-censorship-meta
[3] https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/social-media-platforms-remove-pro-palestinian-posts/
[4] https://www.palestinechronicle.com/crackdown-on-pro-palestinian-content-meta-deletes-over-90000-posts-at-israels-requests/
[5] https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/10/07/human-rights-ngos-say-social-media-platforms-continue-to-censor-pro-palestine-content
[6] https://7amleh.org/post/meta-must-end-the-systematic-censorship-of-palestinian-content-globally
[7] https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/20/meta-systemic-censorship-palestine-content
[8] https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ngo-action-news-17-april-2025/
[9] https://features.csis.org/gaza-through-whose-lens/index.html
[10] https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/24/shadowbanning-are-social-media-giants-censoring-pro-palestine-voices
[11] https://www.iemed.org/publication/the-gaza-war-coverage-the-role-of-social-media-vs-mainstream-media/

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Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

@israel@a.gup.pe @palestine@a.gup.pe @gaza@a.gup.pe

From 2024: #HumanRightsWatch - #Venezuela: Brutal #Crackdown on #Protesters, Voters

Killings, #MassArrests Following Elections

(Bogota) – "Venezuelan authorities are committing widespread #HumanRights violations against #protesters, #bystanders, #opposition leaders, and critics following the July 28, 2024, presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerned governments should push for independent verification of the electoral results and support international efforts to ensure accountability.

"International observers have raised serious concerns about the July 29 announcement by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) that #NicolásMaduro had been re-elected president. Following the announcement, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, in largely peaceful protests, to demand a fair counting of the votes. Human Rights Watch has documented that Venezuelan authorities and #ProGovernment armed groups known as '#colectivos' have committed widespread abuses, including killings, arbitrary detention and prosecution, and harassment of critics. On September 2, a judge issued an arrest warrant against opposition candidate #EdmundoGonzález for '#conspiracy,' 'incitement to #disobedience' and other crimes.

" 'The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,' said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. 'Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected.'

"Venezuelans voted in the presidential election in large numbers, despite irregular government actions and human rights violations in the lead-up to the election, including arrests of opposition members, arbitrary disqualifications of opposition candidates, and restrictions on Venezuelans #voting abroad. Several hours after polls closed, Venezuela’s electoral council declared that Maduro had won the election with over 51 percent of the vote. The Electoral Council has not released the tally sheets from the election, nor conducted the audits and citizen verification processes required by law.

"The United Nations Electoral Technical Team and the #CarterCenter, which observed the elections, said the process lacked transparency and integrity, and questioned the declared result. They indicated that, instead, the precinct-level tally sheets that the opposition made public were reliable. The Carter Center noted that the tally sheets showed, with 81 percent of the votes counted, that #González had won the election by a significant margin.

"Venezuelans have taken to the streets across the country, particularly in low-income areas traditionally supportive of the Chavismo movement, where many incidents of #repression have taken place.

"Human Rights Watch received credible reports of 24 killings in the context of #protests from independent local groups, including Foro Penal, Justicia Encuentro y Perdón, Monitor de Víctimas, and Provea, or discovered them on social media. Human Rights Watch independently documented 11 of these cases, including by reviewing death certificates, verifying videos and photographs, and interviewing 20 people, including witnesses and other local sources. Many relatives, witnesses, and others were not willing to be interviewed because they feared #GovernmentRetaliation.

"Human Rights Watch analyzed and verified 39 videos and 2 photographs of protests found on social media platforms or sent directly to researchers by people close to the victims, and by local organizations and journalists.

"Researchers confirmed the exact locations where these videos were filmed; used information such as shadows, weather patterns, and upload dates to determine the time of day; and consulted with forensic pathologists and arms experts, who analyzed the injuries and weapons that were seen and heard.

"According to Venezuelan authorities, they arrested over 2,400 people in connection with protests. The local pro bono group #ForoPenal recorded over 1,580 '#PoliticalPrisoners' who have been arrested since July 29, including 114 children. Prosecutors have charged hundreds with sometimes broadly defined crimes carrying harsh sentences, such as '#incitement to hatred,' '#resistance to #authority,' and 'terrorism.'

"The government has also intensified its broader repressive tactics, cancelling passports of critics to prevent them from leaving the country, encouraging citizens to report on #demonstrators, and conducting abusive #raids, especially in low-income communities. On August 15, Maduro’s supporters in the National Assembly passed a law that grants the government #BroadPowers to control and shut down nongovernmental organizations [#NGOs]."

Read more:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/04/venezuela-brutal-crackdown-protesters-voters

I haven't done a #FollowFriday list in a while. Here are some of my favorite #HumanRights accounts (in alphabetical order):

@404mediaco
404 Media is a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We're focused on investigative reports, longform features, blogs, and scoops about topics including: hacking, cybersecurity, cybercrime, sex, artificial intelligence, consumer rights, surveillance, privacy, and the democratization of the internet.

@AIF_Massachusetts
American Iron Front in Massachusetts: standing against Nazis, the alt-right, and fascists of all stripes in Massachusetts and the greater New England area.

@BLKNewsNow
News blog covering stories for Black America, the Black diaspora, and allies from all backgrounds.

@CrimethInc
CrimethInc. is a rebel alliance—a decentralized network pledged to anonymous collective action—a breakout from the prisons of our age. We strive to reinvent our lives and our world according to the principles of self-determination and mutual aid.

@DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss
Automated toots from Democracy Now's Headlines RSS feed. This account is not affiliated with #DemocracyNow.

@EndIsraeliApartheid
The UN report, entitled "Anatomy of a #Genocide", says Israel has violated three of the five acts listed in the UN Genocide Convention. The UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible”.

@Freedom_Press
An independent, radical co-op controlled by its volunteers, Freedom runs Britain’s oldest anarchist press and its largest bookshop.

@humanrightswatch
This is the international organization #HumanRightsWatch.

@igd_news
In search of new forms of life. A digital community center and media platform featuring news, opinion, podcasts, and reporting on autonomous social movements and revolt across so-called North America from an #anarchist perspective.

@indybay
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center • Anti-Oppression Anti-Capitalist Open Publishing Since 2000 Make media • Make trouble!

@MikeDunnAuthor
Working Class Historical Fiction from the not so gilded age. Labor History. Social justice. An injury to one is an injury to all!

@mondoweiss
We cover the movements, activists and policymakers who affect the struggle for freedom in #Palestine. We are now on Peertube! Watch our videos in the fediverse and follow us there for updated video content: https://video.mondoweiss.net

@MusiqueNow
#Music #Musique #Musica #Musik #pouetradio #WeAreTheRadio and #news. #SolidarityWithPalestineRadio
#TransAndNonBinaryrRightsAreHumanRights #QueersBashBACK #NEVERAGAINforANYONE

@PoliceStateUK
Tracking politics, policing and #CivilLiberties in the UK.

@RadicalGraffiti
Just sharing pics of #AntiCapitalist, Anti-#authoritarian and #AntiColonial graffiti, stickers and street art seen around the world.

@Resister
MSW, RSW • She/Her • Settler • #Activist • #Vegan • Critical Consciousness Raiser •
Creator of - https://radicalsocial.work/about

@rmblaber1956
I am a retired academic, with an MA & PhD in Social Policy & Administration from the Universities of York & Kent respectively. I am disabled, & am deeply concerned about human, gay and disability rights, the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. I was politically homeless, but am increasingly favouring the Green Party. I like films, classical music, jazz & reading.

@Sherifazuhur
Research prof. (UCLA PhD - MIT, American Univ. In Cairo, CSU, UCB, SSI-US Army War College, Fulbright scholar, Syria) #MiddleEastNorthAfrican #history, #politics, #defense, #IslamicStudies, #arts, #thought, #education Toots on MENA current news.

@ThailandWatch
Posts about human rights and conflict related to Thailand. Posts by @peacemakers_ca

@UnicornRiot
Independent media amplifying stories from the frontlines of social and environmental struggles. Bookmark our website: https://unicornriot.ninja/

@USAJusticeWatch
Focus on the USA with emphasis on human rights and conflict. Please send a direct message for information about the curator of this account, who watches the US from another country. Messages deleted from time to time.

@YourAnonNews
We are Anonymous, we are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect us. Prepared to go forward w/it. Here live. Not a cat. #Anonymous #HackThePlanet

The #FarRight Group Building a List of Pro-Palestine Activists to Deport

#BetarUS said it has shared with the Trump administration a list of the “names of hundreds of terror supporters.”

"This conflation of speech critical to #Israel with #antisemitism or support of Hamas will do little to protect Jews in the United States from hate, said #JonahRubin, with #JewishVoiceForPeace, a progressive #JewishAmerican group that advocates for #Palestinian #HumanRights."

Jonah Valdez
February 6 2025

"The premise behind Trump’s more recent order is rooted in #ProjectEsther: a treatise by the authors of #Project2025. The document was billed as 'a blueprint to counter antisemitism' and offered strategies to target and silence critics of Israel, including deportation. A fact sheet about the executive order related by the Trump administration mirrored language from Project Esther and laid bare the order’s intent to 'cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses,' vowing to deport 'all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests.'

"Such ideas are increasingly gaining purchase in conservative discourse. Pledges to deport supporters of Palestinian rights were a key part of the Republican Party’s platform. A congressional bill introduced last May called for similar measures.

"#Academia is a key focus of Project Esther and Trump’s executive orders. While the most recent order instructs all agencies within the executive branch to take part in the crackdown, it encourages #surveillance in specific areas, such as #universities and even K-12 schools, where administrators are being told to monitor and report #InternationalStudents for possible deportation.

"On Monday, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights launched investigations into five schools — #ColumbiaUniversity; #UCLABerkley; #NorthwesternUniversity; #UniversityOfMinnesota, Twin Cities; and #PortlandStateUniversity — for #antisemitism, the first use of the executive order.

"'Americans and college students that visit the United States should be able to protest the #Israeli government’s human rights violations in the same way that the United United Nations, the International Criminal Court [#ICC], #AmnestyInternational, #HumanRightsWatch, and other respected institutions have for the past several years, without fear of retaliation,' said Robert McCaw, a leader with the Council on American-Islamic Relations who heads the government affairs department. He decried the order’s fact sheet of peddling anti-Muslim terms such as 'pro-Jihad.'"

"Trump’s efforts have inspired a grassroots campaign to identify possible targets for deportation. On #SocialMedia, groups such as #MothersAgainstCollegeAntisemitism and the #ChicagoJewishAlliance have shared links to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line and called on people to report 'foreign students and faculty who support Hamas' and 'students on visas who are suspected of engaging in pro-terror activities,' respectively."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/02/06/betar-palestine-school-activists-target-deport-trump/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/fCZve
#McCarthyism #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #DontSnitch #ICE #ICERaids #ICEArrests #Deportation #CollegeStudents #FreeSpeech #Censorship #Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #authoritarianism #USPol