Palestinian journalists face WhatsApp restrictions after truce

According to an international news agency, shortly after a ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza militant group Hamas, two of its journalists in the Gaza bureau received a message in Arabic that their accounts have been blocked.

Dozens of journalists in Gaza, Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank also say their accounts have been shut down.

Staff members of a news outlet said their accounts have been restored following complaints to the company that owns WhatsApp.

The Vice president of the Palestinian Journalists Association said the accounts of 100 journalists in Gaza have been blocked.

The Arab Center for the Promotion of Social Media in the Israeli city of Haifa says that in addition to WhatsApp accounts, 500 violations of the digital rights of Palestinians were recorded between May 6 and May 19.

According to the report, not only were the accounts deleted but also restricted and hashtags were removed and the archive was also deleted.

The Center says that 50% of the reports were related to Instagram, 35% to Facebook, 11% to Twitter and 1% to TikTok.

The relevant companies did not elaborate on the closure or suspension of the accounts, but the reasons given to the users included hateful content and violations of community norms.

Social media is an important source of information for Palestinians because most believe that traditional media does not fully reflect the reality of the problem.