owns Instagram), in the wake of the 2021 escalation of the conflict in Gaza. This report, commissioned by Facebook itself, found that the platform had handled pro-Palestinian content unfairly, in regard to ‘freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, political participation and non-discrimination’. But while all of the above might lead us to condemn new forms of media, it is also crucial to question why young people have become disaffected with traditional media, particularly when seeking to find out the truth on such contentious issues. Many find that ostensibly ‘unbiased’ corporations, such as the BBC, relying largely on on- the-ground reporting, often subtly slant the bias of their coverage through their use of language. A frequently cited example is that the BBC has been seen more often to refer to Palestinians as ‘dying’ and to Israelis as being ‘killed’. A 2024 report by the Centre for Media Moni- toring found that ‘emotive language describes Israelis as victims of attacks 11 times more than Palestinians’. This is notwithstanding the fact that, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at time of writing, 34,945 Palestinians have been killed, compared to 1,139 Israelis. The same report found that ‘on broadcast TV, Israeli perspectives were referenced almost three times more than Palestinian ones’ further suggesting that mainstream media outlets are dispro- portionately presenting Israelis as the main victims of a conflict that has been, and continues to be, devastating to the Palestinian population. ◉
found that people are more likely to engage with shock- ing, outrageous content, and thus they push this more, meaning that people are exposed to more and more rad- ical views, and less factual, reliable information. Added to this is the phenomenon known as the ‘echo chamber’, through which algorithms send social media users con- tent that presents an over-simplified and one-sided view It is in the interest of social media companies to keep the user engaging with their sites for as long as possible of events and issues, devoid of the nuance and balance that discussion of such a complex conflict as that in the Middle East so greatly requires. What is certain is that social media is affecting users’ understanding of events and their repercussions. Some commentators believe that the situation is even more concerning, suggesting that social media compa- nies are deliberately censoring pro-Palestinian content in an attempt to prevent people from hearing the views of those who denounce the actions of the Israeli state. A number of pro-Palestinian activists on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram claim that videos raising awareness about the situation in Gaza have been removed, with communi- ty guidelines violations cited as justification. In addition, it is claimed that some users are blocked from seeing certain content in relation to the conflict. These claims may seem too anecdotal to provide us with genuine evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the companies. However, the claims are supported by an independent report conducted into Meta, then Facebook (which also
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