Digital Authoritarianism and the Global Export of Surveillance Tactics from Palestine

• Advanced surveillance, algorithmic targeting, and digital erasure techniques used in the conflict in Gaza represent a model of tech-enabled authoritarianism that is being exported globally.
• The integration of AI, private tech companies, and state intelligence allows for the automation and scaling of violence, often masked as "technical objectivity."
• Digital erasure through content suppression and the destruction of physical and digital records poses a threat to historical memory and future accountability.

Weaponized Technology

• Systems such as "Lavender," "The Gospel," and "Where’s Daddy" utilize machine learning and mass surveillance data to automate target selection in Gaza.
• Elbit Systems reported 850,000 "real-time intel targets" in Gaza and Lebanon, highlighting how algorithmic systems increase the speed and distance of warfare.
• Critics, including Amnesty International, warn that these technologies obscure international crimes and dilute human accountability.

Digital Erasure and Platformicide

• Platforms frequently suppress Palestinian speech or facilitate state-linked narratives, including the use of Google advertising to influence search results.
• UN officials have warned that the destruction of physical archives and digital records in Gaza could erase the evidence needed to secure justice for war crimes.
• The term "platformicide" describes the systemic destruction of digital spaces that allow for communication and the preservation of history.

Manipulation of AI Knowledge

• "AI recommendation poisoning" allows companies to embed biases into chatbots, effectively controlling what users learn about the conflict.
• Reports indicate that Israel has contracted firms to create networks of websites designed to manipulate how AI chatbots respond to queries regarding Gaza.

Global Implications

• Surveillance technologies tested in the occupied territories are being sold globally as "security solutions," bypassing the original political context of their creation.
• Companies like Palantir are increasingly embedded in public institutions, such as the UK's National Health Service, despite concerns regarding their role in surveillance and targeting.