From Digital Censorship to On-the-Ground Repression

This chapter examines how pro-Palestinian youth activism is suppressed across Western universities and digital platforms, showing how institutional repression and algorithmic censorship combine to limit political expression. Drawing on interviews, digital content analysis, and policy review, it identifies key forms of repression, including administrative restrictions, securitization, digital suppression, donor influence, and framing anti-Zionist speech as antisemitism. It also highlights how activists respond through encrypted communication, decentralized tools, transnational solidarity, and legal advocacy. Case studies from Columbia, London, Berlin, Canada, and Australia illustrate how geopolitical interests and platform governance converge to silence dissent, and the chapter concludes with recommendations to strengthen academic freedom and digital rights.