{"id":273054,"date":"2024-09-09T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=273054"},"modified":"2024-09-05T05:14:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T04:14:02","slug":"metas-role-in-israels-digital-proxy-war-on-the-cradle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/metas-role-in-israels-digital-proxy-war-on-the-cradle\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta\u2019s Role in Israel\u2019s Digital Proxy War on The Cradle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

(Photo Credit: The Cradle)<\/p><\/div>\n

The banning of <\/em>The Cradle from <\/em>Facebook and <\/em>Instagram shows a troubling alliance with Israeli-linked groups to silence voices critical of the occupation state, especially those media outlets covering its adversaries\u2019 narratives.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3 Sep 2024 <\/em>– On 16 August, social media giant Meta\u00a0permanently banned<\/a>\u00a0The Cradle\u00a0<\/i>from Facebook and Instagram. The outlet\u2019s accounts on those platforms, which had amassed over a hundred thousand followers and millions of views, were unilaterally purged without warning or a chance to appeal.<\/p>\n

\n

Permabanned<\/strong><\/p>\n

The officially-stated grounds were purported violations of community guidelines for \u201cpraising terrorist organizations\u201d through its reporting on the activities of West Asia\u2019s resistance movements. Meta summarily informed\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>:<\/p>\n

No one can see or find your account, and you can\u2019t use it. All your information will be permanently deleted. You cannot request another review of this decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, there are grounds to believe this crackdown was not merely a matter of community standards enforcement. Evidence suggests that Israeli intelligence-connected entities\u00a0played a significant role<\/a>\u00a0in Meta\u2019s decision to ban\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>, a dissenting, anti-Zionist news outlet reporting on the region, from the region.<\/p>\n

This act of censorship will unlikely be the last against those who dare to expose the brutal realities of the war on Gaza and cover those resisting it.<\/p>\n

There appears to be a disturbing alliance between Meta\u2019s leadership and powerful Zionist organizations that identify targets for censorship, while Meta executives comply without question. Speaking to\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>, independent tech industry researcher Jack Poulson says:<\/p>\n

Meta banning a news source such as\u00a0The Cradle\u00a0that is critical of Israel is less surprising when you consider their history. Beyond Meta\u2019s head of Israel policy, Jordana Cutler, being a former chief of staff of Israel\u2019s Minister of Strategic Affairs, and nearly his director general. Israeli government propaganda offshoot CyberWell is also a \u2018trusted partner\u2019 to Meta. In July, the organization helped influence Meta\u2019s policy on criticism of Zionism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Israeli involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, Poulson, alongside journalist Lee Fang,\u00a0exposed<\/a>\u00a0CyberWell’s part in a broader Israeli government effort, known as Voices of Israel, to shape and disseminate pro-Zionist narratives across the west.<\/p>\n

Despite CyberWell\u2019s\u00a0denials<\/a>\u00a0of government funding or ties, the organization swiftly removed references to its founders, staff, and advisors from its website following these revelations.<\/p>\n

Archival evidence<\/a>\u00a0reveals that many members of the non-profit\u2019s \u201cdynamic team\u201d of \u201cacademics, retired generals, intelligence alumni, and innovative tech professionals\u201d have deep ties to Israeli intelligence and military forces, such as US founder Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, a former occupation soldier and intelligence professional.<\/p>\n

Montemayor emigrated to Tel Aviv as a teenager, volunteering to serve in the occupation army as a \u201clone soldier.\u201d She then entered the intelligence sphere via Israeli private intelligence firm\u00a0Argyle Consulting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There, Montemayor served under Zohar Gorgel, \u201ca decorated IDF intelligence officer with over a decade of experience in various cyber and technology roles.\u201d Together, \u201cencouraged by colleagues and mentors,\u201d they launched a project to \u201cimprove community standards\u201d online. In other words, to neutralize Palestinian solidarity and condemnation of the Zionist entity.<\/p>\n

Given the profusion of \u201cformer\u201d occupation spooks and high-ranking military veterans in CyberWell\u2019s ranks, one wonders whether the non-profit\u2019s launch was pushed by malign elements within the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

\u2018Call to action\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

This suspicion is amply reinforced by the February 2021\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by Tel Aviv\u2019s Ministry of Strategic Affairs,\u00a0The Hate Factor<\/i>. It outlined several strategies for \u201ccombating antisemitism online,\u201d including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and ban social media users from posting content critical of the occupation state.<\/p>\n

Mere months later, CyberWell\u00a0was founded<\/a>, under the title Global Antisemitism Research Center, touting AI as its pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance. Instantly, the obscure non-profit began receiving\u00a0sizable donations<\/a>\u00a0from well-connected Zionist lobby organizations.<\/p>\n

CyberWell also\u00a0quickly entered<\/a>\u00a0into high-level agreements with Israeli government-funded and directed influence operations, such as the notorious, now-defunct trolling and harassment unit Act-IL, which was run out of Tel Aviv\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

For years, the\u00a0hasbara<\/a>\u00a0outfit covertly encouraged Zionist activists to target boycotts and boycotters, justify the oppression and slaughter of Palestinians, and bully human rights groups and solidarity activists online.\u00a0The effort shuttered<\/a>\u00a0without warning in 2022.<\/p>\n

That same year, CyberWell\u2019s\u00a0annual report<\/a>\u00a0noted that it had \u201cserved as the data provider to Act-IL\u2019s community for their end-of-year call to action on the state of online antisemitism.\u201d This may provide some explanation for Act-IL\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n

Today, criticizing Zionists on Facebook and Instagram can result in permanent bans, a\u00a0policy change<\/a>\u00a0reportedly enacted under pressure from CyberWell and other Zionist lobby groups. CyberWell is not only a \u201ctrusted partner\u201d of Meta but also of TikTok and X, exerting influence to suppress content critical of Zionism across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n

CyberWell\u00a0already appears<\/a>\u00a0to have used its influence to compel TikTok to adopt similar guidelines on content related to Zionism as Meta. And there is no indication that the organization intends to stop there.<\/p>\n

It has submitted\u00a0formal guidance<\/a>\u00a0to Meta on censoring the Palestine solidarity phrase, \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d \u2013 which Zionists falsely claim is a clarion call for the genocide of Jews \u2013 while\u00a0publishing reports<\/a>\u00a0on purported \u201cantisemitic disinformation\u201d circulated during western election campaigns.<\/p>\n

Given this context, it is almost certain that CyberWell had a hand in\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>\u2019s\u00a0abrupt removal from Meta\u2019s platforms. Within hours,\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>\u2019s\u00a0accounts were banned, even those not directly linked or associated with any violations. Even a backup Instagram account, which hadn\u2019t violated any of the platform\u2019s guidelines, was taken down for being associated with the main account.<\/p>\n

It appears that Meta was intent on erasing any trace of\u00a0The Cradle<\/i>\u00a0from its social media universe, much to the likely satisfaction of officials in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\u2018Shadow banning\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it must not be forgotten that Meta has a long and deplorable track record of systemic censorship of content related to Palestine. This suppression has only intensified since the Gaza genocide began.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0December 2023<\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch (HRW) report exposed how, over the past two months, Facebook had engaged in \u201cover 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of content\u201d on Facebook and Instagram \u201cposted by Palestinians and their supporters, including about human rights abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of this total, 1,049 \u201cinvolved peaceful content in support of Palestine that was censored or otherwise unduly suppressed.\u201d The documented cases included \u201ccontent originating from over 60 countries around the world, primarily in English, all of peaceful support of Palestine, expressed in diverse ways.\u201d Meanwhile, HRW \u201cidentified six key patterns of undue censorship.\u201d This included:<\/p>\n

Removal of posts, stories, and comments; suspension or permanent disabling of accounts; restrictions on the ability to engage with content\u00ad; restrictions on the ability to follow or tag other accounts; restrictions on the use of certain features, such as Instagram\/Facebook Live, monetization; and \u201cshadow banning,\u201d the significant decrease in the visibility of an individual\u2019s posts, stories, or account, without notification, due to a reduction in the distribution or reach of content or disabling of searches for accounts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elsewhere, digital rights group Access Now\u00a0has documented<\/a>\u00a0how content damaging to the occupation state has been censored under Meta policies unrelated to \u201cdisinformation\u201d or \u201cantisemitism\u201d or informed by organizations like CyberWell.<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0following the bombing<\/a>\u00a0of Gaza\u2019s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on 17 October 2023, which killed 471 Palestinians and left another 342 injured, Facebook and Instagram\u00a0removed content<\/a>\u00a0documenting the explosion and showing bodies of casualties under Meta\u2019s policy on adult nudity and sexual activity.<\/p>\n

The Cradle<\/strong><\/i>\u2019s coverage presses on<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ease with which Zionist organizations like CyberWell have been able to infiltrate and pressure Meta and the platform\u2019s omerta on the genocide of Palestinians could be attributable to several Israeli military and intelligence veterans occupying high ranks within the company.<\/p>\n

For instance,\u00a0Guy Rosen<\/a>, formerly of the occupation army\u2019s shady spying and disinformation specialist Unit 8200, has been the company\u2019s Chief Information Security Officer since 2022. He is also co-founder of Meta-owned Israeli tech company Onavo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cradle\u00a0<\/i>will continue to expose the Gaza genocide and factually report on events in West Asia, including the region\u2019s Resistance Axis, despite Meta\u2019s ban from Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s continuous and escalating censorship by Meta may well contribute to its declining user base and\u00a0crashing stock market value<\/a>. As more voices are silenced, the platform\u2019s days, much like those of the Zionist narrative it so eagerly supports, may be numbered.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kit Klarenberg is a British investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thecradle.co<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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