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Facebook Is Collaborating With The Israeli Government To Determine What Should Be Censored (go.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: The Israeli government and Facebook agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network, a senior Israeli Cabinet minister said Monday. The announcement came after two government ministers met top Facebook officials to discuss the matter. The Facebook delegation is in Israel as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence. Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites. It has repeatedly said that Facebook should do more to monitor and control the content, raising a host of legal and ethical issues over whether the company is responsible for material posted by its users. Both Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, two key figures in Israel's battle against the alleged online provocations, participated in Monday's meeting. Erdan's office said they agreed with Facebook representatives to create teams that would figure out how best to monitor and remove inflammatory content, but did not elaborate further. Erdan and Shaked have proposed legislation that seeks to force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement. An opposition lawmaker has also proposed a bill seeking to force social networks to self-monitor or face a fine. Facebook said in a statement "online extremism can only be tackled with a strong partnership between policymakers, civil society, academia and companies, and this is true in Israel and around the world." The company did also say that its community standards "make it clear there is non place for terrorists or content that promotes terrorism on Facebook." ABC News reports that "over the past four months Israel submitted 158 requests to Facebook to remove inciting content and another 13 requests to YouTube," according to Shaked. "She said Facebook granted some 95 percent of the requests and YouTube granted 80 percent." All of this adds to the censorship controversy that is currently surrounding Facebook. Last week, Norway's largest newspaper accused Mark Zuckerberg of abusing power after his company decided to censor a historic photograph of the Vietnamese "Napalm Girl," claiming it violated the company's ban on "child nudity."

12 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. How about.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    genocide. Yeah, let's censor genocide.

    1. Re:How about.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Jews, the eternal victims in their own eyes, joining together to victimize others, and censor any reports of that.
      More they use their much propagated 'victim' status to morally blackmail and cover-up their own well substantiated crimes (genocide, ethnic cleansing, land grabs, apartheid laws, rape, torture, deliberate child killings on a mass scale, spying, corruption and influence pending of western governments, etc., etc..) less credibility and sympathy there will be for their true past sufferings.

  2. Bold claims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The company did also say that its community standards "make it clear there is non place for terrorists or content that promotes terrorism on Facebook."

    Even when the terror is being incited by a major state like the US or China? Or Israel? Somehow I doubt they're going to stick by this.

    1. Re:Bold claims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Just look at what's happening.. the most racist government on earth is asking facebook to censor criticism of its actions.. this is gastapo level nazi stuff..

  3. The death of unpopular thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And there it is boys and girls, the sanitation of unapproved thoughts. Brought to you by Facebook.

  4. Re:On the plus side by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thoughts are not crimes, unless you have no problem with introducing thoughtcrime.

    Acting upon those thoughts can be a crime, though, but that's like saying we should outlaw chemistry because it can be used to know how to build bombs.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. God's chosen people by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yup. Nothing like letting a group of people who claim that God has a deal with them that he will always side with them over others decide what is and isn't acceptable for others to say.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  6. Re:I feel an irregular verb coming on by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the flow of low level attacks against civilian targets in Israel over the years,

    You mean low level attacks against civilians in Palestine by Israelis over the years. It is well known and well documented that Jews who go on to Palestinian land and destroy their crops are for all intents and purposes, never caught and those who might be implicated are never punished.

    As we saw when a Jewish terrorist burned alive a Palestinian mother and her child, punishment against Jews are laughable at best and non-existent on the whole. No Jew has ever had their house destroyed when they commit a terrorist act and never, to my knowledge, has a Jew ever been put in solitary confinement for whatever terrorist act they have committed.

    So spare us how it's acceptable to ban one form of speech when the Israeli government not only condones such acts but helps them when it uses the power of its military to force Palestinians off the land and out of the homes they have lived in before Israel even existed.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  7. Re: Incitement in Hebrew by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about demolishing the houses of the families of Palestinians accused of attacking Israelis? Or continuously building heavily fortified settlements in Palestinian territory against international law? Do either of those things count as incitement? I swear, sometimes Israel is like a little kid that keeps poking a beehive with a stick then comes crying when they get stung.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  8. Pot Kettle Black by Sir+Holo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FTA: Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites.

    Yeah, those 40-foot-high walls that Israel is plopping down through the middle of Palestinian cities has absolutely nothing to do with the anger of Palestinians at Israel's illegal seizure of their land, or the destruction of the (200+ yr-old) olive orchards at-will. Or further their making even a modicum of a 'normal life' impossible for the refugees of former Palestinian territory – stolen by expansionist Israeli governing parties from Palestinians.

    Any and all "agreed-upon" borders have been violated by Israel. Palestinian children throw stones to voice their anger – and Israeli helicopter gunships fire missiles into Palestinian homeland territories.

    This "story" of placing blame for censorship on private companies like FaceBook is a complete diversion from the actual reality of what is going on in that territory.

  9. Re:Incitement in Hebrew by Rockoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What do you mean prison? They're free to leave and settle in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Turkey any time they want.

    Lebanon sticks them in camps and wont give them citizenship (for 68 years now.)
    Egypt? The home of the Arab League, whose member States are barred from granting citizenship to Palestinians.
    Saudi Arabia? Member of the Arab League, whose member States are barred from granting citizenship to Palestinians.
    Turkey? Until 2 years ago they didnt even allow Palestinians to work or go to school is the country, and since then they still arent allowed to even apply for citizenship.
    Syria? Fucking lol you fucking ignorant fuck.

    Let me translate what you just fucking said: The Palestinians are free to go somewhere else where they wont be a citizen either.

    STFU you fucking racist.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  10. Re:Incitement in Hebrew by mvlmvl · · Score: 1, Insightful

    But Israel is somehow to blame. Not Lebanon that holds the Palestinians rightless, not Jordan that even in majority palestinian cities discriminates against them. Not the palestinian authority that instead of building a country is keeping them in "refugee camps". But Israel, where every Palestinian who remained in 1948 is a citizen with full rights.