Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital/Settler-Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle

(Paperback)

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This groundbreaking book documents how digital platforms and technology companies based in the United States support the Israeli settler-colonial project through censorship. Terms of Servitude demonstrates how social media has become a new tool of anti-Palestinian suppression even though these platforms were initially instrumental in advancing the Palestinian struggle. Features an introduction by Steven Salaita, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. This groundbreaking book documents how digital platforms and technology companies based in the United States support the Israeli settler-colonial project through censorship. Terms of Servitude demonstrates how social media has become a new tool of anti-Palestinian suppression even though these platforms were initially instrumental in advancing the Palestinian struggle. Features an introduction by Steven Salaita, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. Terms of Servitude explores the paradox whereby prominent digital platforms like Meta, Google, and X that initially facilitated the expression of activism and advocacy for Palestinian liberation have come to fortify Zionist settler-colonialism. Through anti-Palestinian censorship and erasure often justified by so-called "terms of service" or "community standards" violations, these Big Tech companies provide the Israeli occupation forces with AI technology and metadata used to streamline genocidal colonial violence against Palestinians. Through original analysis and careful documentation, Omar Zahzah, Assistant Professor of Arab, Muslim, Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University, traces the timeline from the Sheikh Jarrah uprisings of 2021 to the beginning of October 2023 to the most current developments to explain social media's role in advancing and suppressing Palestinian narratives. This revealing and alarming book explores what makes anti-colonial counter-narratives across digital platforms so urgent, and what resistance can and must mean in light of the consolidation of Big Tech with Israeli colonialism and genocide.

Author Bio

OMAR ZAHZAH is a writer, poet, organizer of Lebanese Palestinian descent, and Assistant Professor of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University. Omar has covered digital repression in relation to Palestine as a freelance journalist since May 2021, with work appearing in such outlets as Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, CounterPunch, and more. Omar holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA. STEVEN SALAITA is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. His most recent books are a memoir, An Honest Living, and a novel, Daughter, Son, Assassin. He writes at stevesalaita.com.