YouTube

YouTube is a video hosting platform owned by Google, making it subject to the same boycott due to Google's $1.2 billion military contracts with Israel through Project Nimbus and the 2025 UN Human Rights Council report identifying Google as enabling apartheid and genocide.

YouTube also is used as a tool by the IOF to spread propaganda and misinformation.

$45 Million Propaganda Contract

YouTube is included in Google's $45 million propaganda contract signed with the Israeli Prime Minister's Office in 2025. The contract explicitly described the campaign as state-backed propaganda.

The campaign's main goal is to counter UN reports documenting famine in Gaza. A YouTube video by Israel's Foreign Ministry received millions of views through paid promotions claimed that "There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie". This campaign launched after Israel announced a complete blockade of food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian supplies to Gaza on March 2, 2025.

Censorship of Palestinian Content

In October 2025, YouTube deleted the accounts of three Palestinian human rights organizations (Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights) erasing over 700 videos documenting Israeli violations of international law. The deleted content included investigative reports on the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and documentaries on survivors of Israel's operations in Gaza.

YouTube's algorithms disproportionately flag Arabic-language content and content originating from the West Bank and Gaza. 7amleh (The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media) documented 507 cases of content removals or account restrictions affecting Palestinians in 2024 alone. 7amleh reports as well that YouTube permits content praising Israeli military operations while restricting videos critical of Israel or documenting Palestinian suffering.

Sources:

• 7amleh YouTube's Impact on Palestinian Digital Rights during the War on Gaza
• Al-Shabaka YouTube's Violation of Palestinian Digital Rights: What Needs to be Done
• Drop Site News Google's $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
• OHCHR A/HRC/59/23: From economy of occupation to economy of genocide - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
• The Intercept YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations