Silenced in the Algorithm: How 70,000 Palestinians Died Unseen

By Tracy Turner

Silenced in the Algorithm: How 70,000 Palestinians Died Unseen

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil… that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”
— Isaiah 5:20

“And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of God and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children…?”
— Qur’an 4:75

The Machine kills without blinking. It assigns a target by metadata, locks it in by pattern, and obliterates it with impunity. Then it scrolls onward. No funeral. No trial. No face.

In Gaza, it is called Lavender—an AI-powered death engine that sorted humans into bomb-worthy categories at algorithmic speed. And since the October 7 Hamas attack, it has helped vaporize over 70,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians, children, journalists, doctors, students, and mothers. It is not a war. It is an index. A spreadsheet of slaughter.

But this essay is not just about Lavender. It is about the great silence that made Lavender possible—the vacuum of truth where journalism used to be. Where Palestinian voices once cried out through pen and pixel, there is now only static, shadow-banning, demonetization, and algorithmic burial. A digital hush designed to make genocide invisible.

For while Gaza burned, Google suggested “clashes.”
While homes collapsed, Facebook banned users for life for sharing a Palestine Chronicle article.
While children bled on live video, YouTube removed footage for “community violations.”
And while journalists died in the rubble, The Washington Post and The New York Times crafted carefully laundered narratives that began with Israeli fear and ended in Palestinian erasure.

The Western press—so keen to moralize Russian drones, so ready to weep for Ukrainian grandmothers—has become the chorus line of imperial hypocrisy, harmonizing with military-industrial gospel while muffling every scream from Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah. In the cathedral of democracy, Palestine is a heresy. And truth, if spoken plainly, is the blasphemy.

Like the prophets of old, Gaza’s journalists wrote with fire on the walls of empire. And for this, they were hunted. Over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed, many by direct Israeli strikes on press offices, homes, and known coordinates. Their names are not trending. Their stories are not taught. Their deaths are not mourned by the professional class of free-speech fetishists.

They were the scribes of the oppressed. And the Machine—fed by Google, protected by Meta, sanitized by Reuters—could not tolerate their existence.

II. Suppression by Media & Algorithms

The Machine does not rest. It churns 24/7, refining its algorithms, tuning its filters, tightening its grip. For 70,000 Palestinians to die, it takes more than missiles. It takes omission, silence, and erasure—the kind only Western media and Big Tech can administer.

The Palestinian death toll could not be hidden by tanks and drones alone. No. The suppression was much subtler: the erasure of truth in a world that claims to value it. When Gaza bled, it was not just the bodies that vanished, but the very voices that spoke on their behalf.

Western media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and BBC have long served as the gatekeepers of truth, dictating whose stories matter and whose do not. And in this case, Palestine does not matter. As Israeli warplanes turned neighborhoods into dust, these same outlets reported “clashes,” “crossfire,” and “military operations.” The asymmetry of violence—the disproportionate loss of life, the targeting of civilians, the genocide—was erased by careful, strategic language.

In the palace of Western narratives, there is no room for Palestinian voices. While Israel’s official statements receive primary billing, Palestinian perspectives are relegated to the footnotes, if they make it at all. Palestinian suffering is minimized, their resistance criminalized. Western media acts as the great eraser, obscuring the crimes being committed by labeling them with neutral or even justifying terms.

Consider how these same outlets, in covering the Ukraine crisis, show footage of civilian casualties and decry Russian brutality. Yet, when Palestinian children die, their names are forgotten, their faces are blurred behind a veil of military jargon. A brutal bias is hard-coded into the systems of power, both in the press and the algorithms of search engines.

But it's not just the news that obscures the truth. It’s also the search engines. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo—all rely on algorithms that prioritize Western outlets. Independent Palestinian media is buried under a mountain of corporate-sponsored content. Palestinian sources, like The Electronic Intifada or Palestine Chronicle, are often flagged as “unreliable,” “controversial,” or even “terrorist-linked,” despite their commitment to documenting the truth. Websites critical of Israeli policies are buried in the endless scroll of the internet, their words weighed down by algorithmic prejudice.

The sanctions don’t end there. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have taken it upon themselves to shadow-ban Palestinian journalists. Accounts are suspended for sharing even the most innocuous links to Palestinian news outlets. Posting a video of Israeli airstrikes is enough to get a person banned for life from Meta platforms. It’s not even about the content anymore—it’s about association. In a digital age, to be linked to Palestinian truth is to be silenced.

When videos of the massacres in Gaza are uploaded to YouTube, they are swiftly removed under the vague pretext of “violence” or “graphic content.” These platforms act as the modern-day censors, silently taking down evidence of genocide, lest the world bear witness to what’s happening behind the curtains.

Palestinian Media Landscape: A Chart of Suppressed Voices

Media Outlet Mission/Focus Specialty/Niche Suppression/Challenges Faced
The Electronic Intifada Independent journalism on Palestine, Israeli occupation, and resistance Critical analysis, investigative journalism, cultural coverage Shadow-banned by platforms like Facebook, flagged as "controversial"
Palestine Chronicle News & analysis on Palestine and global solidarity with Palestinians Editorials, human rights focus, Palestinian history and culture Demonetized, labeled as "biased" by pro-Israel groups
Alquds English Palestinian perspectives on regional and global issues Politics, society, human rights Censorship by Google and mainstream outlets
Middle East Monitor Challenging Western media's pro-Israel bias Analysis of Middle Eastern geopolitics, including Palestine Shadow-banned, limited exposure in Western press
Al Jazeera (Middle East) Reporting Palestinian struggles with Arab perspectives Breaking news, investigative reports, comprehensive coverage Blocked in Israel, demonized in US media
Ma'an News Palestinian news, analysis, and advocacy Community-based, with a focus on the humanitarian situation Relegated to "alternative news" status
WAFA News Official Palestinian news agency National and international news coverage Labelled as "state-affiliated," algorithmically suppressed
Palestine Information Center Documenting Israeli crimes, promoting Palestinian narrative Political advocacy, human rights reporting Censored on search engines, shadow-banned
Felesteen News Gaza-based news, resistance journalism Gaza's daily struggle, military occupation Blacklisted by platforms like Google and Facebook
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Palestinian daily newspaper Coverage of politics, economy, and culture Struggled with exposure outside Palestine
Palestine Monitor News & advocacy on Palestinian rights Human rights, political analysis Shadow-banning, restricted access in some regions
Quds News Network Pro-Palestinian news Politics, resistance, regional issues Deprioritized in search engine rankings, platforms restrict access
Filastiniyat Palestinian women's voices and perspectives Gender-based advocacy, stories of resilience Censorship on social media platforms
Palestine Portal Resources and news on Palestine and the wider Middle East Educational resources, advocacy news Suppressed due to critical coverage of Israeli policies
Mada al-Carmel Palestinian research and human rights Palestinian history and culture, research-focused Largely ignored by mainstream outlets and search engines
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Middle Eastern and global news with a focus on Arab issues Political analysis, global perspectives Suppressed due to pro-Palestinian stance
Mondoweiss Independent news & analysis on Palestine Critique of Israeli policies, news from a Palestinian viewpoint Algorithms bury content, demonetization of critical coverage

III. The Cost of Silence

The algorithmic erasure, the shadow-banning, and the linguistic distortion serve a far more insidious purpose than simply hiding inconvenient truths. They are part of a larger systemic effort to whitewash history, obfuscate crimes, and sanitize violence. This calculated silence, enforced by both digital platforms and mainstream media, diminishes the power of truth and condemns entire populations to remain faceless in the eyes of the world. With over 70,000 Palestinians dead since October 7, 2023, many of them civilians—children, elderly, students, journalists—every attempt to share their story has been met with resistance. What is happening in Gaza is not just an act of war; it is the systemic erasure of a people.

By silencing Palestinian journalists, banning their words from the digital airwaves, and blocking independent outlets, Western platforms make sure that the world sees what they want to see—cleansed of any nuance, scrubbed of Palestinian suffering, and re-cast as a mere geopolitical conflict. The West has long employed a double standard when it comes to Israel’s actions, and this distortion of the narrative allows for an unconscionable complicity in genocide. The Western media, with its decades-long track record of framing the Palestinian struggle as “violent extremism” or “terrorism,” feeds the algorithmic silence that permits the death toll to climb without accountability.

It is not enough to witness genocide in real time; the world must also be made to forget it. But those of us with access to truth—who still have the privilege to speak—have an obligation to scream it from every possible platform.

IV. Call to Action: Resisting the Digital Silence

V. A People, A Story, A Memory

The algorithm doesn’t blink. It doesn’t hesitate. It doesn’t mourn. It simply processes, categorizes, and erases. But in this age of digital silences, we must remember: No machine can erase history. No algorithm can erase the collective spirit of resistance. And no matter how many times our voices are silenced, the truth will find a way through.

The stories of the 70,000 dead are not yet finished. And they will not be buried in silence. They will echo through the cracks in the algorithm, through the defiance of independent media, and through the courage of journalists who still risk their lives to tell the truth.

So, let this be the last generation to be complicit in silence. Let us remember, let us resist, and let us stand with the oppressed.

Open Letter to Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia
Subject: The Algorithmic Erasure of Palestinian Voices

To the Management and Executives of Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia,

It is with profound disappointment and a sense of moral urgency that I address you today. These platforms—once celebrated as pillars of information, open access, and progress—have become gatekeepers of silence and complicit collaborators in the erasure of Palestinian voices.

Your algorithms, designed to filter the world’s knowledge, are now the architects of an inconvenient truth’s obliteration. When 70,000 lives are lost, when homes are razed to the ground, when children are obliterated, your platforms do not mourn; they filter. They hide the suffering of an entire people beneath an avalanche of Western corporate media content. This is not an oversight. It is by design.

Google: You claim to organize the world's information, but your algorithms consistently bury Palestinian perspectives. Independent Palestinian outlets like The Electronic Intifada and Palestine Chronicle are relegated to the bottom of search results, their stories relegated to what you deem as "unreliable." It is not your duty to decide what is true—it is your duty to provide a platform for truth, no matter how inconvenient or unpopular.

Bing & Yahoo: You are not innocent bystanders. You profit from the same digital ecosystem that privileges the voices of those already in power. Your search results mimic Google’s bias, pushing Palestinian media into the shadows while amplifying corporate-sponsored narratives. Your neutrality is a myth, and the silence you perpetuate is complicity in genocide.

Wikipedia: You claim to be a free encyclopedia for the world, but how do you justify your persistent deletion of Palestinian content, your refusal to acknowledge the history and narrative of an oppressed people? In your so-called neutrality, you sanitize history. You erase Palestine, and in doing so, you erase the possibility of truth itself.

It is not enough to be “neutral.” Neutrality in the face of oppression is complicity. Your platforms are not neutral—they are biased, algorithmically, linguistically, and politically. Palestinian journalists are murdered by drones, their voices shut out by social media bans, their websites buried beneath layers of Western corporate content. And you, in your silence, justify the erasure.

For decades, you have allowed your search engines and platforms to become purveyors of misinformation. But the truth is not something you can bury forever. The cries of the Palestinian people—those 70,000 lives, those 100+ journalists, those stories that are ignored and silenced—will not remain unseen. The truth will find a way. The world will remember.

You have the power to change this. You can use your platforms for accountability, for justice, for truth. You can ensure that the voices of the oppressed are heard, not hidden. But until you take responsibility for the harm you’ve caused, your role in silencing truth will be remembered as one of the greatest moral failings of our time.

Until then, your algorithms will remain guilty of a far greater crime than any they seek to censor—the crime of erasing humanity itself.

Sincerely,

Citizens of Conscience, Advocates for Truth

Palestinian News & Media – One More Time

The Electronic Intifada
Palestine Chronicle
The Jerusalem Paper
Middle East Monitor
Al Jazeera (Middle East)
Ma'an News
WAFA News
Palestine Information Center
Felesteen News
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
Palestine Monitor
Quds News Network
Filastiniyat
Palestine Portal
Mada al-Carmel

Additional News & Media

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
Mondoweiss
Middle East Eye
The Cradle
Shehab News
Safa News
Dunia Al-Watan
Quds News Network (Alternative)
Palestine Today
Al-Resalah

Human Rights & Advocacy

B'Tselem
Al-Haq
Addameer
PCHR
Institute for Palestine Studies

Alternative & Independent Media

Samidoun
International Solidarity Movement
Palestine Telegraph
Arab48
Alternative Information Center