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Thursday, September 24, 2020
YouTube, Zoom and Facebook censor Leila Khaled for Israel
Leila Khaled was censored on major internet platforms at the behest of Israel lobby groups and the Israeli government. (Fira Literal Barcelona)
Nora Barrows-Friedman - 23 September 2020
Major Silicon Valley companies censored an event at San Francisco State University on Wednesday.
This means that during the pandemic, private companies closely aligned with the government have immense power over what can be said, even in an academic setting.
Zoom, the web-based videoconferencing platform, announced Tuesday evening that it was prohibiting SFSU from using its software to host a planned webinar on Wednesday with Leila Khaled, the Palestinian resistance icon who is now in her seventies and lives in Jordan.
Zoom has threatened to cancel this webinar and silence Palestinian narratives. We expect SFSU/CSU to uphold our freedom of speech and academic freedom by providing an alternative venue to this open classroom. We will see you tomorrow at 12:30 pm (PST) at the Zoom webinar.
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This is what happens when we subcontract our universities to Zoom: they decide which events are acceptable and which aren’t. It’s outrageous. twitter.com/ggreschler/sta…
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The event was also restricted by Facebook, which has a lengthy history of censoring Palestinians on behalf of Israel.
On Wednesday, the event went ahead via YouTube, but shortly after it began, the company cut off the video stream, replacing it with a notice that said “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service.”
YouTube abruptly cut off the event. Congratulations to all those who have been demanding that social media companies do more to crack down on freedom of speech in the name of fighting "hate." Public sphere now at the mercy of Silicon Valley and governments they collude with. twitter.com/jncatron/statu…
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According to an email seen by The Electronic Intifada on Wednesday, professor Rabab Abdulhadi, director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora program at SFSU, and the event’s co-moderator professor Tomomi Kinukawa, say they expected the university to “seriously and publicly challenge Zoom’s attempt to control higher education and the content of our curriculum and classrooms.”
The professors add that “the privatization of our education is a serious development. As a public institution, SFSU must refuse and resist.”
Zoom’s announcement was a capitulation to the Israeli government and anti-Palestinian groups – including the Anti-Defamation League, StandWithUs and the Lawfare Project – which have pressured the company for weeks over the planned event.
