Gilad Erdan, Public Security Minister of Israel, labeled Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) as a “monster”, accusing the company of incompetency in regulating the contents of its online platform. The purported inability of Facebook to enforce its policies on sensitive content is believed to obstruct the works of the police force, citing the company’s lack of cooperation with Israel.
Erdan: Facebook, Uncooperative
According to Erdan, Facebook is to be held responsible for the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Kiryat Ara. Prior to the incident, Muhammad Nasser Tarayrah, the 17-year-old assassin, revealed his hideous plans on Facebook through a number of posts. The whole tragedy outraged the Israeli government, believing that the social networking company should be keen in taking down abusive content that may spark further violence, causing more innocent lives to be lost. However, Erdan noted that Facebook has a “high bar” when it comes to content takedowns.
Meanwhile, Facebook has denied the allegations, saying that it is closely working with the government to prevent further terrorist attacks and killings. In its statement, the social networking giant reiterated that its policies and standards allow no room on its platform for anything that promotes threats, violence or hate speech.
Moreover, Facebook has also reportedly ditched its previous takedown algorithms of relying on users’ reports. For a more efficient procedure, the company has already employed an automated process when it comes to content takedowns. The same goes for Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google as well.
Israel vs. Social Media
Over the past nine months, 34 Israelis and two US citizens have already been murdered. Accordingly, the casualties and attacks are vastly growing due to the peace talk failures in 2014.
Prior to Erdan’s straightforward remarks, the Israeli government has already taken a stance against social media platforms such as Twitter, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) Twitter and YouTube, claiming that they serve as avenues to encourage violence against Israel.
Due to the recent attacks, the legislative bodies are reportedly working on a law that shall mandate social networking companies to take down online content that may spark terrorism and cost many lives.
