Internet & Online Safety · Israel
Online safety & content laws in Israel (2026)
Israel shaded by its internet & online safety status
Israel has no single comprehensive online-safety or content-moderation regime comparable to the EU DSA or UK Online Safety Act. Instead it relies on a 2017 law letting courts order ISPs/platforms to block or remove sites tied to specific offenses (terrorism, child sexual abuse material, illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs), plus a recently modernized privacy law. Multiple bills to impose platform liability, criminal-content takedowns and a local-representative duty have advanced in the Knesset but were not enacted as a unified framework as of mid-2026.
Key points
The 2017 'Powers to Prevent the Commission of Offenses by Means of an Internet Website Law' lets district-court judges, on police/State Attorney request, order ISPs to block or remove sites used for terrorism, child pornography, human trafficking, advertising prostitution, illegal gambling and drug offenses. This is the main operative content-restriction mechanism.
Israel lacks a horizontal online-safety / content-moderation statute imposing systemic platform duties of care. A Ministry of Communications advisory committee has recommended making platforms legally responsible for illegal and harmful content, but these are recommendations, not enacted law.
A 'Facebook bill' giving preliminary approval lets a judge order platforms (e.g. Facebook, TikTok) to remove posts where law enforcement believes a criminal offense was committed via the publication. Critics, including legal researchers, called it broader and more intrusive than equivalents in other democracies, citing free-speech risks.
Amendment 13 to the Protection of Privacy Law (adopted Aug 2024, in force 14 Aug 2025) aligns Israel closer to the GDPR, with stronger enforcement, mandatory privacy protection officers, data-broker rules and a broadened definition of sensitive data — the main binding rulebook for how platforms handle user data.
Israel has no enacted mandatory age-verification law for adult content; lawmakers earlier backed away from a compulsory online porn filter. Minor protection online is handled via the 2017 blocking law (CSAM, exploitation) and child-protection bodies rather than a dedicated age-assurance mandate; a Knesset research brief reviewed such mechanisms.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi's wider media-overhaul bill passed a first reading; the Attorney General warned of 'real concern of severe harm to freedom of expression and freedom of the press,' reflecting ongoing tension between regulation and speech in Israel's online/media space.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Lawmakers extended the temporary law letting senior ministers shut foreign news networks deemed a security threat for two more years, prolonging the ban on Al Jazeera and entrenching executive control over foreign media presence.
Times of Israel ↗Acting on the new Foreign Broadcasters Law and a Shin Bet opinion that the channel's broadcasts harm state security, the cabinet voted to close Al Jazeera's operations and seize its equipment — the first use of the law against an online/broadcast outlet.
Library of Congress ↗The Bill for Protecting the Public from Dangerous Publication on Social Media would let courts order removal of online content endangering a person or the public; critics called it among the most intrusive content-removal proposals in any democracy.
Times of Israel ↗The High Court rejected the Adalah/ACRI petition, ruling that the State Attorney's Cyber Unit referrals to platforms are not reviewable state action because platforms make the final removal decision — legitimizing 'alternative enforcement' notice-and-takedown.
Library of Congress ↗A bill enabling courts to order platforms to remove posts deemed incitement advanced but was pulled by the prime minister at the last minute, leaving Israel without dedicated harmful-content legislation and reliant on the Cyber Unit's informal route.
INSS ↗The Law on Authorities for the Prevention of Committing Crimes Through Use of an Internet Site, 5777-2017 first authorized district courts to order ISPs to block or restrict sites tied to terror, drugs, prostitution, child sexual abuse material, or illegal gambling.
Library of Congress ↗The Justice Ministry created the Cyber Unit to flag terror and incitement content to platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter for 'voluntary' removal without court process — referrals grew from ~2,200 (2016) to over 14,000 (2018), with ~90% honored.
Columbia Global Freedom of Expression ↗This quasi-constitutional Basic Law anchors the rights to privacy, dignity and free expression that Israeli courts later weigh against state content-removal and site-blocking powers — the constitutional backdrop for all online-speech rulings.
Library of Congress ↗Israel - other topics
Last verified 5/23/2026 · Orientation, not legal advice - verify against the primary sources linked above. Explore the full world map →