Malaysia’s Communications Minister expressed outrage at Meta Platforms on May 14, demanding that it talk about why it had removed Facebook posts by local media covering Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting this week with a Hamas governed.
Datuk Seri Anwar encountered senior Hamas governor, Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar on May 14. He later said he had deep rapports with the political governors of Hamas, but no inclusion in its military apparatus.
Muslim-majority Malaysia, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, has sent a letter questioning Meta to explain the takedown of posts by two media organisations about Mr Anwar’s meeting, as well as the closure of the Facebook account of a third outlet covering Palestinian issues.
I condemn Meta’s actions of eradicating posts, specifically since they were in rapport to the Prime Minister’s official visit to Qatar,” Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who is also government spokesperson, told a regular briefing.
“What I regret is that these actions were taken by an organisation based in the United States, and it’s crystal clear that they do not have good feelings for the freedom of media outlets in utilising their platform.”
Meta did not at the same time revert to an appeal for remark to be made on Malaysia’s appeal. Malaysia has long advocated a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Meta at the time said it was not knowingly, suppressing voices on its Facebook platform, adding that there was “no truth” to the claim it was restricting content supporting the Palestinians.
Meta designates Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, as a “perilous organisation” and bans content appreciating the group. It also uses a mix of automated detection and human remark to eradicate or label graphic visuals.