Online safety & content laws in Israel (2026)

In December 2022 the Ministry of Communications published Israel's first comprehensive policy paper recommending EU-DSA-style rules on 'very large' platforms (>5% of Israelis as users), including a dedicated regulator, duty-of-care, transparency reports, and liability for failing to remove illegal content. The report has not been translated into enacted legislation.

Successive versions of a bill allowing Israeli courts to order platforms to remove user-generated content constituting any criminal offence under the Penal Law have been introduced and passed initial/first readings in the Knesset, but have repeatedly failed to complete the three readings needed for enactment. Critics (IDI, academics) describe it as among the most intrusive such proposals in a democracy.

The State Attorney's 'Cyber Unit' refers tens of thousands of posts annually to Facebook, X, YouTube and others under platforms' own terms of service rather than a statutory removal order; roughly 90% are removed. The Supreme Court (Adalah v. State Attorney, April 2021) upheld the practice but characterised it as 'concealed governmental activity' and urged the Knesset to put it on statutory footing — which has not happened.

Under 2011 amendments to the Communications (Telecommunications and Broadcasting) Law, Israeli ISPs must offer subscribers free optional filtering of pornographic and other harmful content and inform them of its availability. Successive bills to make this opt-out (requiring adults to actively request access to adult content, with age verification) have passed first readings but have not been enacted.

A temporary April 2024 law empowers the Communications Minister, with cabinet approval, to shut down foreign media outlets deemed a threat to state security — used to close Al Jazeera's Israel operations. In July 2025 the Knesset extended the law until 31 December 2027 (22-10 vote). The law covers broadcast and online distribution of designated outlets within Israel.

There is no dedicated intermediary-liability statute. Platforms are governed by general tort, criminal (incitement, terror-support, child sexual abuse material), consumer-protection, defamation and copyright law (including a 2019 online-piracy reform allowing court-ordered site blocking). Representation-in-Israel requirements and proactive moderation duties exist only as recommendations in the 2022 Communications Ministry report, not as enforceable obligations.