Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, in a major confrontation, has dismissed Meta, which owns Facebook, as ‘cowardly’ after the company erased his post that conveyed his condolences over the murder of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The video in which Anwar recorded a phone call with a Hamas official was supposedly removed by Meta, which prompted the Malaysian leader to publish a harsh message.
This situation is an example of the continuous conflict between the Malaysian government and Meta concerning content moderation policies that are insulting to Malaysia, especially those concerning the Palestine issue.
The communications minister asked Meta whether an algorithm had deleted the post after someone had reported it.
This case is a good example that social networks faces to protect user rights and regulate their activity because sometimes policies can interfere with the freedom of speech and vice versa, especially in the context of geopolitical events.
Activists also mentioned that there has been censorship of Meta that has affected the side supporting Palestinians, where rights groups claim that Meta has been biasing.
Since Malaysia stands firm in supporting the Palestinian issue, conflict with Meta is projected to continue, raising the most socio-political issue over social media firms controlling people’s political freedom of speech.
