Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh discussed today in a virtual meeting with Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, Nick Clegg, the company’s mechanisms when dealing with Palestinian content in support of the Palestinian cause and the incitement against Palestinians on its social media platforms.
Shtayyeh stressed that the Palestinian people and their supporters have the right to express the Palestinian narrative without being subjected to the restriction and censorship of content, rejecting the company’s approach to censoring specific words such as “martyrs” and “resistance”, and considering such words and terms as a breach to its community standards.
Shtayyeh called for taking actions against the unacceptable incitement content published in both Hebrew and English on the company’s platforms against the Palestinian people and their cause, particularly the hate speech and incitements to violence by Israeli extremists.
He called on the company to adopt international law and UN resolutions that recognize the rights of the Palestinian people as part of its standards for evaluating content.
Shtayyeh stressed the importance of protecting the Palestinian content that documents the occupation’s violations of human rights, referring to the recently issued Human Rights Watch report, in which it accused Israel of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians.
For his part, Clegg affirmed that the company is working hard to do everything possible to protect freedom of expression for all, and the continuous development of the company’s general policies to achieve this, expressing readiness to cooperate to achieve common goals.
Facebook has been censoring posts and deleting accounts of users that highlight Israel’s violence and oppression against Palestinians.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA