All related contents have since been restored but with a note that they violate guidelines.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has reportedly accepted the apology of social media company Meta for the removal of the former’s condolence posts on Facebook and Instagram over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said he hopes the matter will not recur.
“I took note, I contacted the prime minister, and he acknowledged Meta’s apology,” Fahmi was quoted by RTM telling reporters at the Communications Ministry’s monthly assembly.
“The prime minister said that he read the news in the Middle East, meaning that the apology reached him worldwide. We hope this incident does not happen again.”
Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Yesterday, the government said it had demanded an apology from Meta over its removal of two Facebook posts by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — during a meeting with its representatives.
According to Bernama, a check on the Prime Minister’s Instagram account also found that three of his posts on July 31 condemning Haniyeh’s assassination and sharing photos of his meeting with the Hamas leader had been removed from the social media application.
The removal of the posts was accompanied by the caption “Dangerous individuals and organisations”.
This led the Prime Minister’s Office to condemn Meta’s actions, while Anwar on August 1 reminded Meta to stop acting as an instrument of the oppressive Zionist Israeli regime.
In response, Meta Platforms apologised earlier today and claimed that an “operational error” led to the removal.
Meta has restored deleted posts by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other politicians on its platforms regarding slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
However, the restored posts include a note that they are still in violation of Meta’s community guidelines.
This is most notable on Instagram, where there is a clear notice stating “This post goes against our Community Guidelines but has been left on Instagram for public awareness”.
On Facebook, the notice is much smaller and simply states “This post is allowed for public awareness”.
Clicking the notice on Facebook then shows the message “In some cases, we allow content which would otherwise go against our Community Standards”.
On both Instagram and Facebook, clicking share on the flagged posts will give users a notice that the posts go against community standards and users will be asked if they want to proceed with sharing or not.
Earlier report:
Aug 5, PMO demands explanation, public apology from Meta over post removal