A bill allowing Israeli courts to force social media companies to remove
content defined as incitement passed its first reading in parliament on Tuesday
morning.
The “Facebook bill” sponsored by ministers Gilad Erdan and Ayelet Shaked
would allow Israeli courts to immediately order content taken down if it is
deemed to pose a public, personal or state security risk and constitutes a
criminal offense.
Facebook adheres to its own removal policy when it comes to online
content and freedom of speech issues, which has earned it criticism from
Israeli politicians and officials who have called for the company to remove
offending posts by Palestinians.
Facebook officials met with Erdan and Shaked in September to address
their concerns over material on the website deemed to incite terrorism, and
Facebook was one of four companies that last month announced a shared
initiative to more actively curb such content.
Palestinian journalists and social media activists have accused Facebook
of bias towards Israel and in September began an online campaign calling for
protests with the hashtag #FBcensorsPalestine.
Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the Israel Democracy Institute has
criticized the Facebook bill as too broad.
The bill will not solve the problem and will hurt freedom of expression
for all, she said, according to the Globe. (dpa/NAN)
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