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The war between Israel and Hamas has significantly changed the country’s digital space. The Internet has become more violent and dangerous, and the level of hostility has increased. These results were released by the Israeli Internet Association after a sociological survey conducted by Geocartographia.
According to the survey, 73% of citizens believe that the war has increased online violence. More than 70% of respondents have encountered hate speech, which includes insults based on ethnicity, gender, politics or sexuality. Another 66% reported encountering calls for violence.
Most Israelis have been personally affected by violent visual content: 44% have seen shocking images and videos related to the war. As a result, citizens have become less likely to express their opinions online. While last year only 59% were afraid to share their views, this year this figure reached 74%.
Facebook remains the most aggressive platform, with more than half of those surveyed having experienced hate and incitement there. A high level of violent content was also noted on Instagram and TikTok. Telegram was recognised as the most harmful platform due to the uncontrolled distribution of violent videos and intimate content without users’ consent.
The level of trust in social media remains low: 30 per cent of Israelis do not report hate incidents at all, and 32 per cent do not know how to do so.
“The war and the tense security situation have changed the digital space, increased the level of aggression and forced people to remain silent. This is a challenge for freedom of speech and democracy,” said Idan Ring, Vice President of the Israeli Internet Association.
