Dr. Amal Nazzal is Assistant Professor at the Business and Economics Faculty at Birzeit University, Palestine. She received her PhD from the University of Exeter, where she studied the relevance of Bourdieu’s theory of practice for relationally capturing various practices, mechanisms, and dynamics in socio-cultural organizations. In particular, she focused on politically-motivated social movements. She has also researched social capital, social networking theory, digital ethnography, and social media content analysis. She has worked closely with the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) and 7amleh – the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media.
From this author
While all eyes are on Gaza, Israel is escalating its oppressive measures against Palestinians in the West Bank at unprecedented levels. The Israeli army has launched large-scale military operations, leading to the deaths of dozens of Palestinians, and given free rein to violent settlers communities, who have displaced an estimated 1,000 people in the past six months.
The arrival of new digital technologies over the past decade has had critical implications for Palestinian activism. On the one hand, these developments have reinvigorated the Palestinian cause. Indeed, social media platforms have facilitated new channels and modes of social organization, helping Palestinians counter their geographic fragmentation under Israeli apartheid.
Amal Nazzal joins host Yara Hawari to discuss her extensive research into violations of Palestinian digital rights by Israeli and Palestinian authorities with the complicity of social media giants, while also touching on the rise of "Slacktivism" and explaining the principles of ethical digital research of oppressed peoples.
Palestinians are increasingly reporting that their digital rights are being violated by social media platforms, including YouTube. Al-Shabaka policy analyst, Amal Nazzal, examines YouTube’s problematic community guidelines and policies, and how they are used to discriminate against Palestinian users’ content. She offers recommendations for protecting the digital rights of Palestinian activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.
