Israel Accuses Facebook of Perpetuating West Bank Violence
Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan accused Facebook and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of being partially responsible for violence in the West Bank, including the murder of a 13-year old Israeli girl last Thursday. Eredan claims that Facebook failed to remove extremist content that incited violence and hampered the work of Israeli police.
About three dozen Israelis and more than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the regional conflict since October, according to Bloomberg.
Erdan said in a Saturday newscast:
Some of the victims’ blood is on Zuckerberg’s hands. Facebook has turned into a monster. The younger generation in the Palestinian Authority runs its entire discourse of incitement and lies and finally goes out to commit murderous acts on Facebook’s platform.
Israeli politician and entrepreneur Erel Margalit agreed with Erdan’s assertion that Facebook has become a threat to the Israeli poeple, telling Haaretz, “The next terror attack is hiding among the thousands of likes and shares that terrorists get these days.”
Facebook did not respond directly to Erdan’s comments, but released a statement indicating they are more than willing to cooperating with the Israeli government:
We work regularly with safety organizations and policymakers around the world, including Israel, to ensure that people know how to make safe use of Facebook. There is no room for content that promotes violence, direct threats, terrorists or hate speeches on our platform….We have a set of community standards designed to help people understand what’s allowed on Facebook, and we call on people to use our report if they find content they believe violates these rules, so that we can examine each case and take quick action.
Reuters reported last week that several of the world’s largest Internet companies, including Facebook, have been quietly deploying systems that censor videos containing extremist content amidst pressure from President Obama and European leaders, who fear such content could lead to terror attacks.
