The Control of Information.
How the rich and powerful shape the media and control your mind. By Dr. Judith Brown
The Middle East, the Caucasus, and Western Asia – Part 1b.
“I think there are ways in which we censor ourselves; that’s the most dangerous kind of censorship – that’s how hegemony works”. Jennifer Egan.
AFP and Fact checking the Israel-Palestine war, 7tOctober 2023 to 6 January 2024.
Agencie France Presse (AFP) is a significant player in the world of Arab countries’ censorship activities, as even though it is a French company, it has third-party fact checking contracts with Facebook to moderate content in many Arab countries. In the Middle East and Arabia in 2023 its Facebook contracts included Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Yemen and United Arab Emirates (UAE). In effect, it has become a local actor in the Middle East and Arabia fact check industry and for this reason the activities of AFP are described in this section.
Hot button topics – is fact checking relevant?
A short study was conducted in order to examine (1) any inaccuracies or bias in the response of fact checkers and (2) whether fact checks examined controversial issues that may alter perceptions of audiences and readers.
During the period 7 October 2023 to 6 January 2024, the Israeli-Palestine war the biggest news story. Fact checks that related to the distressing events were examined on the website of AFP Factuel, the fact checking arm of AFP. AFP has an office in Israel and local staff on the ground in Gaza, and employs Arab journalists in the Palestinian territories.
During this period, AFP was accused of bias by both Israeli and Palestine supporters. In November 2003 AFP appeared in front of the US senate accused of pro-Palestinian bias, by not using the term ‘terrorist’ to describe Palestinian militant groups [1] here. Emails leaked to Declassified In October 2023 describe the AFP ‘rules’ of reporting the Israeli-Palestine conflict, including, “…all stories’ opening paragraphs should at least mention: the deaths on both sides, the hostages held by Hamas, and Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel.” There was no requirement to describe Israeli occupation of Palestine, ethnic cleaning, apartheid, and the belief of some experts that Israeli action may constitute genocide [2] here. However, AFP denies bias, stating that it has 50 staff working in Israel, West Bank and Gaza, its own staff in Gaza being displaced in the current conflict, and states it works to report events from both sides [3] here.
The AFP fact check section was erroneously labelled ‘Hamas-Israeli War’ on 11 December 2023, rather than the using a more accurate description, such as the ‘Israeli-Palestinian Conflict’.
AFP had 140 fact checks on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on its website during this period:
· 11 related to celebrity statements.
· 15 related to anti-war protests outside of the region.
· 10 related to foreign military or political events outside the region, including Yemen, USA, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran.
· 3 related to events in West Bank.
· 1 related to events in Israel.
· 84 directly related to Israeli action in Gaza.
· 16 miscellaneous.
The 84 fact checks in Gaza fall into the following categories:
· Pictures from other conflicts, for example the Syrian or Ukrainian conflict, or earlier Gaza assaults misrepresented as part of the current Gaza conflict. It is unclear who posted these images, or their motives.
· Other images from video games, firework displays, paragliders not related to Gaza or Israel, misrepresented as part of the current conflict. Again, it is unclear who posted these images or their motives.
· ‘Pallywood’ claims of crisis actors pretending to be injured. The majority of these were identified by AFP as crisis actors and not real events (6 reports in total). Again, it is unclear who posted these images or their motives.
· Two fact checks relate to a disputed hospital attack.
What did AFP fail to verify?
In the context of war, except for the hospital bombing story these were mainly fact checks of fringe issues; the Israel-Palestine war is polarising and AFP’s arbitration on minor issues would be unlikely to change perceptions. However, there have been more important issues that would give more reader insight into the conflict and influence public debate, but these were not investigated by the AFP fact check team. These included:
· Israel’s right to self-defence. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, stated in November 2023 “The right to self-defense can be invoked when the state is threatened by another state. Israel cannot claim the right of self-defense against a threat that emanates from a territory it occupies — from a territory kept under belligerent occupation” [4] here. This has not been fact checked by AFP.
· Although there is no disagreement on the brutality of the attack on Israel by Palestinian militants on 7 October 2023, there is evidence that some Israeli deaths were caused by the actions of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Victims were either caught in crossfire, shelled because of poor military intelligence, or purposefully killed by the IDF as part of the ‘Hannibal directive’ where Israeli policy prefers to kill hostages rather than being forced to negotiate for their release [5] here. Although this was reported in Israeli media it was not widely reported outside Israel, and was not fact checked by AFP.
· A story of ‘40 beheaded babies’ during the 7 October attacks was widely reported in mainstream news internationally, but no evidence has been found to substantiate the claim. Israeli records revealed that only two babies were killed that day, and neither were mutilated [6] here. This was fact checked by some media outlets, including Al Jazeera and Le Monde, but it was not fact checked by AFP.
· The claim of Israeli women being ‘systematically’ raped and gang raped by Hamas militias was widely publicised in the international media and was also part of Israel’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) submission. Discrepancies have been reported by various sources, including public comments made by family members, contradictory claims by witnesses, and lack of forensic evidence [7] here. AFP did not investigate this.
· On 4 January 2024 whilst being interviewed on LBC, the Israeli Ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely claimed that the tunnels were under “every school, every mosque, and every second house” and called for destroying every house in Gaza [8] here. Although this claim was controversial, it was not investigated by AFP fact checkers.
· Although legal experts have stated that Israeli actions in Gaza amount to genocide, and during the period of my investigation a case was being prepared for the ICJ, a claim rejected by Israeli, British and American governments [9] here. Despite this being a crucial issue, it was not investigated by AFP.
· Allegations that under the largest hospital in Gaza, the Al Shifa Hospital, was the headquarters of Hamas’ military wing [10] here. This was not investigated by AFP.
High profile events, such as those listed above, if investigated fully in the mainstream media could sway public opinion to demand a ceasefire, and force politicians to put pressure on Israel to halt its actions in Gaza, thus protecting Palestinian lives and human rights. However, AFP fact checkers have persistently failed to investigate issues that could be influential in halting atrocities.
Instead, AFP has in the main investigated inconsequential issues; some of these, such as describing images of other wars inaccurately attributed to Gaza, or actors playing the part of Gazan victims undermines the real story of Palestinian suffering during the Israeli bombardment. The only AFP investigation of substance was the bombing of a Gazan hospital, where both Israel and Palestinian militias blamed each other for this tragic event with a large loss of life, as displaced people were killed whilst taking refuge in the hospital car park. In 2023, AFP concluded that there was no evidence of this being caused by an Israeli weapon, quoting the French Government as its source. In 2025, this fact check was no longer available on the AFP website.
A brief examination of more recent fact checks on the AFP Factuel website demonstrates that the tendency to fact check trivia in this devastating war continues. Recent AFP fact checks included insignificant issues such as a banner at a football ground being AI generated and not real; reports of the death of an IDF officer were untrue; and an investigation into the polio vaccination programme in Gaza. The reason children are dying in Gaza is not from polio or the polio vaccination; it is from starvation, exposure to cold, and war.
Conclusion.
AFP sends newswires to the world’s media, and as such it has the opportunity to influence debate if its fact check platform accurately and impartiality checked on controversial issues. Of course, this may generate criticism – in this case, from the influential pro-Israeli lobby, but AFP states that it is not biased, and fact checks both ‘sides’ in this polarised conflict. Most fact check platforms state that they aim to support democracy. However, by avoiding fact checks that may offend, provoke criticism, or put the income stream at risk, then fact checks cannot inform citizens, nor offer a significant contribution to the strengthening democratic values.
We have seen in Section 1a that fact check platforms in the Arab world also avoid issues that have significance. The fact checks in Arabic language address social media users in the Arab world. AFP fact checks in many languages but mainly reports in English and French – hence its audience is likely to be from America and Europe. Nonetheless, there is a similarity in the styles of fact checking from both European AFP and other fact check platforms in the Middle East region.
If fact check platforms have to select trivial stories for verification in order to satisfy their funders, then they have no purpose. If they avoid fact checks that may upset one ‘side’ for whatever reason, they are exhibiting bias.
The next section will analyse the censorship practices that surround Middle East narratives.