Facebook refuses to remove group calling for Third Intifada
March 29, 2011 12:12 by Alex MargolinUpdate: about an hour after this post was published, Facebook shut down the group. All links to the group have been redirected to users’ personal profiles.
An Arabic-language Facebook group calling for a third Intifada against Israel has grown to 350,000 members by March 29th, a few days after Facebook said it was monitoring the group’s comment wall for incitement but would not remove the group entirely.
The group’s official action item calls for a march on Israel from across the Arab world on May 15, 2011 to “liberate” the Palestinian territory.
Many of Israel’s supporters see the group as a symbol of the anti-Israel incitement that led to the murder of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar earlier this month and the increase in rocket fire on Israel in recent weeks.
Pro-Israel activists have launched a series of counter-measures, including a petition drive against the group, and campaigns to organize official complaints to Facebook over violations of the site’s terms of service banning hate speech. A number of counter-groups on Facebook have appeared, calling for the group’s removal as well.
According to comments from Facebook published in The Jerusalem Post, officials from the Facebook have been in contact with the group’s administrators, warning them to monitor content more closely. Comments deemed threatening or inciting violence are being investigated and removed, the source told the Jerusalem Post.
However, Facebook appears to believe that a group calling for a popular uprising against Israel does not violate its terms of service. The Facebook spokesman told the Post that,
While some kinds of comments and content may be upsetting for someone – criticism of a certain culture, country, religion, lifestyle, or political ideology, for example – that alone is not a reason to remove the discussion. We strongly believe that Facebook users have the ability to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content, groups or Pages that speak out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas.
This attitude has been deemed entirely inappropriate to many in the pro-Israel community. Andre Oboler, a leading expert on the use of emerging media, told HonestReporting that Facebook should face the consequences of allowing this group to spread its message.
Facebook has gone from protecting Holocaust denial, to protecting calls for genocide. Removing the most inciting posts, and asking the administrators to tone down their calls for death, is not responsible management.
It’s not enough to allow Safe Harbor provisions for service providers to come into play. Facebook’s management MUST be held accountable for the consequences, both by the criminal law and by international community. They are providing weapons to those wanting to commit war crimes.
Indeed, looking for ways to hold Facebook accountable in the event of violence on or after May 15 may prove more effective than seeking to remove the group, especially now that Facebook has refused to take serious action.
In the meantime, however, anyone looking to join the effort could click on the link below to open the offending page, look for the “Report Page” in small print on the lower part of the left margin, choose “Contains hate speech” then click “submit”.
http://www.facebook.com/Palestinian.Intifada
¡¡¡HEEEY, BUENA NOTICIA, LO HAN CERRADOOOOO!!!! | PATRIA JUDIA
5:00 pm
Mar 29, 2011
[...] nuestro post anterior sobre la cuestión de fondo sobre el [...]
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Jean Vercors
8:54 pm
Mar 29, 2011
Zuckerberg is a good man who listened to his conscience. truly decent human being who possesses wisdom and common sense.
Does free speech mean BDS and terrorist groups can hijack Facebook in a campaign to unleash violence, terror and war on Jews ?
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Breaking News: Facebook Shuts Down Third Intifada Group « altahrir, news of Islam, Muslims
10:03 pm
Mar 29, 2011
[...] our previous post on the issue for background on the [...]
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Dean
2:08 am
Mar 30, 2011
It will become increasingly impossible to keep up with all the hate over social media. The amount will grow as the “rebels” and “the people” in the Middle East Islamic countries take advantage of their new “freedom” to explode with the hate they have been fed all their lives against us. We are helping to overthrow disgustingly violent and backwards dictators but there are Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Al Qaeda types now in the wings waiting to take over with worse forms of oppression. Strange that Al Qaeda and the MB are now backed by a “coalition” of Western idiots ordered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to do their bidding. The only way to stop hate is to monitor what goes on in schools and mosques in North America and prosecute some sedition laws to set some examples and establish some precedents.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
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Breaking News: Facebook sperrt Gruppe mit Aufruf zu dritter Intifada « Medien BackSpin
3:46 pm
Mar 30, 2011
[...] Hintergrundinformation siehe unseren früheren Beitrag [In [...]
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NoBurqa
6:32 pm
Mar 30, 2011
When sites like this virulent one get almost 3.3 MILLION LIKES, there is a HUGE problem. https://www.facebook.com/Rassoul.Allaah
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salander
1:43 am
Apr 04, 2011
YOUTUBE Third Palestinian Intifada If FACEBOOK is getting hammered about this, how come GOOGLE and YOUTUBE have the videos?
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Electronic Cigarette Accessories
8:10 pm
Mar 06, 2012
Hi there, its pleasant article concerning media print, we all understand media
is a great source of data.
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