Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Facebook was responsible for a spate of Palestinian attacks on the country’s citizens.
“Facebook today sabotages, it should be known, sabotages the work of the Israeli police, because when the Israeli police approach them, and it is regarding a resident of Judea and Samaria, Facebook does not cooperate” with the West Bank, Erdan said in a television interview Saturday, Reuters reported.
Erdan admitted that Facebook has contributed positively to society, but said it has also helped spread online hate, particularly Islamic State propaganda. “Facebook today, which brought an amazing, positive revolution to the world,” he said, but “since the rise of Daesh (Islamic State) and the wave of terror, it has simply become a monster.”
Thirty-four Israelis and two U.S. citizens have been killed in street attacks this year. Additionally, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians, of which the government identified 137 as assailants, Reuters reported.
Since the rise of Daesh (Islamic State) and the wave of terror, Facebook has simply become a monster.
Facebook has since fired back, defending its content moderation policies.
“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,” Facebook said in a statement to CNET. “There is no room for content that promotes violence, direct threats, terrorist or hate speeches on our platform.”
The U.S. government has called on tech companies to help fight ISIS through content moderation and to quickly remove content that is sympathetic to terror acts or the Islamic State.
Twitter ramped up its efforts by aggressively shutting down ISIS-associated accounts that publish supportive messages or link to the group’s propaganda videos. Facebook has had a more pervasive stance, including permitting the buying and selling of heavy artillery weapons through designated groups on the site.
Israel is currently considering legislation that would force tech companies to take down terror-related content at the government’s request. The passage and consideration of similar laws has increased in recent years in response to increased international security concerns. Those laws often spark censorship concerns — so much so that the United Nations recently deemed any law that restricts online speech or internet access a violation of human rights. The UN resolution doesn’t carry any penalties, but could prove to be politically tricky for Israel if it passes its social media law.