16 May 2024: Malaysia on Wednesday sent a notice to Facebook after posts regarding Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were taken down, reports Anadolu Agency.
“As a minister, I condemn Meta’s takedown of posts by the media, all the more because these are reports of the prime minister’s official visit to Qatar,” the country’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
The ministry wrote a letter to Facebook’s parent company Meta, seeking an explanation on the issue, according to local Daily Express. Fahmi said his ministry was notified by at least three media portals that their posts on social media regarding Anwar’s meeting with Haniyeh “had been taken down.”
Anwar met the political wing of Hamas, “not its military wing,” said Fahmi. “I will be meeting all social media providers in June so that official events by the prime minister will not be treated this way (in the future),” he added.
He said that he will hold a meeting with Meta next month to discuss the taking down of the posts.
Anwar met with the Hamas delegation on Monday in Qatari capital Doha in what he described as “in line with Malaysia’s stance and commitment to continue to play a role in stopping attacks and violence in Gaza and Rafah.”
On Thursday, a Reuters report said that Meta restored the said Facebook posts, saying they were removed in error.
