KUALA LUMPUR – Meta has again courted the ire of Malaysian authorities, after it removed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Instagram post on a previous meeting with Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated today.
The Prime Minister’s Media and Strategic Communications Division slammed Meta and said the removal showed its “discrimination against the situation in Palestine and the country’s leaders”.
The Prime Minister’s Office has also demanded an explanation and apology from the tech giant.
“We demand an explanation and urge Meta to apologise regarding this matter,” PMO said in a statement this afternoon.
The post in question features a photo of the prime minister meeting Hamas leaders in Qatar two months ago.
The Hamas leaders Anwar met include Haniyeh, who was the group’s political chief, and former head Khaled Mashal.
According to screenshots shared by the Prime Minister’s Office, Instagram removed the post yesterday, with the explanation: “It looks like you shared or sent symbols, praise or support of people and organisations that we define as dangerous, or followed them”.
The United States, United Kingdom and several other Western countries deem Hamas a terrorist organisation. The group is the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has bombarded for the past 10 months in retaliation for Hamas’ cross-border attack on sites in Israel on October 7 last year.
Previously, Meta removed the same post by Anwar from its Facebook platform in May, which drew backlash from Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
In response, a Meta spokesperson said the Facebook posts were removed in error and were later restored.
The tech firm added that it did not purposely suppress or restrict content made in support of the Palestinian cause. – July 31, 2024