Digital occupation: How surveillance technologies repress dissent from Gaza to Cape Town
Surveillance technology is increasingly being used to monitor civilians.
From the skies above Gaza to the streets of Cape Town, surveillance technologies are no longer confined to military zones. Tools once developed for war and occupation are now being deployed to monitor, profile and suppress civilian populations — particularly those being used in solidarity with Palestine or challenging systems of injustice.
One such tool is SocialNet, developed by US-based company ShadowDragon, a contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency. The software scrapes user data from more than 200 platforms — including Instagram, Facebook, OnlyFans and Bluesky — to construct detailed profiles of individuals' political views, associations and activities. Once used to hunt 'terror suspects' abroad, such software is now used domestically in the US to track activists, immigrants and students.
According to Surveillance Watch, ShadowDragon and similar technologies have been deployed to monitor pro-Palestinian activists — especially after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and the escalation of war in Gaza. Peaceful protesters have faced online harassment, disciplinary action and immigration enforcement — all triggered by surveillance-generated intel. The net effect: digital repression masquerading as national security.
South Africa is not immune. Amid pro-Palestinian solidarity actions — marches, boycotts, and teach-ins — activists report being photographed at protests, tracked on social media and warned by law enforcement. In some cases, private security firms with Israeli ties are alleged to have assisted in data collection and monitoring. The methods may differ, but the logic is the same: control space, suppress dissent and treat activism as a threat.
Aerial surveillance systems such as Eye in the Sky reinforce this logic. Originally designed for military reconnaissance, these systems use high-resolution cameras mounted on planes or drones to survey entire neighbourhoods — recording protest routes, tracking crowds and compiling footage for analysis. Often deployed without public oversight or judicial authorisation, they turn urban centres into open-air observation zones.
In Gaza, similar technologies are used by Israeli forces to monitor and target civilian movement. In Cape Town, they watch citizens exercising constitutional rights.
The digital occupation framework reminds us that surveillance is not neutral. It is political. It is often racialised. And it is global. Facial recognition tool NesherAI, allegedly used by the right-wing Zionist group Betar, exemplifies this transnational repression. The software reportedly identified Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Ahmed Khalil on a US campus. A dossier about him was posted publicly and allegedly shared with ICE. The same technologies tested on Palestinians under occupation are now used to suppress solidarity abroad.
South Africa's Constitution guarantees the right to privacy under section 14, while the Protection of Personal Information Act aims to regulate the collection and use of personal data. Internationally, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy. Yet these laws struggle to keep up with the speed and scale of militarised surveillance tools imported — legally or otherwise — into civilian life.
Worse still, these tools do more than watch — they shape behaviour. Protesters begin to self-censor, students avoid organising and communities withdraw from public dissent. The psychological toll of being constantly observed is immense, particularly for racialised or marginalised groups. It mimics the tactics of occupation: isolate, intimidate, control.
As South Africans, this moment demands clarity and political courage. The same state surveillance once used to crush anti-apartheid movements is being repackaged through private tech firms and foreign alliances. The rhetoric is new — 'smart cities', 'public safety', 'counter-extremism' — but the effect is old: silence dissent, maintain control, and fracture solidarity.
From Gaza to Cape Town, from drones to data-mining, surveillance is not just a security tool, it is a system of domination. If we do not resist its expansion, we risk accepting a future in which privacy, protest, and political freedom become casualties of a permanent digital occupation.
Sõzarn Barday is a writer and attorney based in South Africa and has a particular interest in human rights within the Middle East. Opinions shared represent her individual perspective.
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