Despite its constant stand to promote free speech, Facebook backtracked on an earlier decision to allow an anti-Israel page on the social networking site.
Days after declining to remove the page, which was calling for an uprising against Israel, social Facebook changed its mind and took down the page this week.
A Facebook spokesman told The Jerusalem Post they decided to remove the page after the comments "deteriorated" to direct calls for violence.
"We continue to believe that people on Facebook should be able to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content that speaks out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas. However, we monitor pages that are reported to us, and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate – as occurred in this case – we have, and will continue to, take them down," the spokesman said.
The report said that the Arabic-language "Third Palestinian Intifada" page had attracted some 330,000 fans since it went online and called for a mass march into Israel from neighboring countries.
Peaceful page turned violent
But the Facebook spokesman noted the page had started with a call for peaceful protest although it used a term associated with violence in the past.
He said that Facebook administrators initially removed comments that promoted violence.
However, when publicity generated by the page led to comments deteriorating to direct calls for violence, Facebook decided to deactivate the page.
"(The) administrators initially removed comments that promoted violence. However, after the publicity of the page, more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence. Eventually, the page’s creators also participated in these calls. After administrators of the page received repeated warnings about posts that violated our policies, we removed the page," he said.
He emphasized that Facebook's policy to uphold freedom of speech but will not tolerate calls to violence.
"We continue to believe that people on Facebook should be able to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content that speaks out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas. However, we monitor pages that are reported to us, and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate – as occurred in this case – we have, and will continue to, take them down," he said.
Praise from Israel supporters
Israel’s Diaspora and Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein welcomed the move, a week after sending a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on the matter.
The Anti-Defamation League’s national director, Abraham Foxman, also praised the move.
“We applaud Facebook’s willingness to continue to engage and consider this important question, and we deeply appreciate their responsiveness," Foxman said in a statement.
Foxman said he hoped Facebook “continues to vigilantly monitor their pages for other groups that call for violence or terrorism against Jews and Israel."
History of Intifada
The Intifada is an uprising by Palestinian Arabs in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank against Israel.
At least 2,162 Palestinians and 164 Israelis died in the First Intifada from 1987 to 1993, according to a ZDNet blog post by Emil Protalinski.
Some 5,513 Palestinians, 1,115 Israelis and 64 foreigners died in the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005.
The Third Palestinian Intifada called for one million supporters to join an uprising against Israel after Friday prayers on May 15, 2011.
Facebook's explains its side
In initially declining to remove the page, Facebook said that the social networking site is to be a place where people can openly discuss issues and express their views, while respecting the rights and feelings of others.
“With now more than 500 million users from around the world, who have varying cultures and ideals, using Facebook as a place to discuss and share things that are important to them, we sometimes find people discussing and posting about topics that others may find controversial, inaccurate, or offensive," a Facebook spokesman said in an earlier Jerusalem Post report.
“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," he added.
Facebook said that it believes that the site's users should be able to express their opinions. However, when it eventually decided to take down the page, the company said:
"We don’t typically take down content that speaks out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas. However, we monitor pages that are reported to us and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate – as occurred in this case – we have and will continue to take them down."
source: gmanews
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