Malaysian prime minister accuses US-based social media platform of \u2018cowardice\u2019 and acting on behalf of Israel
\nKuala Lumpur
\nMalaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has accused Meta of \u201ccowardice\u201d after the social media company removed his Facebook post on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
\nMalaysia is a supporter of the Palestinian cause, and Anwar has repeatedly condemned Israel\u2019s war on Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank.
\nFollowing Haniyeh\u2019s killing in Iran, the Malaysian leader posted a video recording of his phone call with a Hamas official to offer condolences, which was later removed by the company owned by US billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.
\nA similar post published on Anwar\u2019s Instagram account was also removed by Meta, which owns the photo and video-sharing social media application.
\n\u201cLet this serve as a clear and unequivocal message to Meta: cease this display of cowardice and stop acting as instruments of the oppressive Zionist Israeli regime,\u201d Anwar was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama on Thursday.
\nThe removal of the posts was accompanied by the caption, \u201cDangerous individuals and organisations.\u201d
\nAnwar, who met Haniyeh in Qatar in May, has said he has good relations with the Hamas political leadership but no links on a military level.
\nThere was no immediate response from Meta.
\nMalaysia\u2019s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said an explanation had been sought from Meta and it was unclear whether the posts were automatically removed, or taken down following a complaint.
\nMeta has designated Hamas, the Palestinian movement that governs Gaza, as a \u201cdangerous organisation\u201d and bans content praising the group. It also uses a mix of automated detection and human review to remove or label graphic visuals.
\nMalaysia has previously complained to Meta over its takedown of content, including the media coverage of Anwar\u2019s last meeting with Haniyeh, which was later restored.
\nMeta at the time said it was not deliberately suppressing voices on Facebook and was not restricting content supporting Palestinians.
\nMalaysia has long advocated a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malaysian prime minister accuses US-based social media platform of \u2018cowardice\u2019 and acting on behalf of Israel Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has accused Meta of \u201ccowardice\u201d after the social media company removed his Facebook post on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Malaysia is a supporter of the Palestinian cause, and Anwar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n