KUALA LUMPUR – Facebook’s oversight board will today be taking aim at a user’s post attached with screenshots of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks on the terrorist attacks in France in October.
Earlier, the post was removed after it was found to be in “violation of the site’s policies”.
The Facebook panel said the case is one of six it has selected for review from more than 20,000 cases it received following the opening of user appeals in October.
In this case, the board said a user had posted a screenshot of two tweets by Dr Mahathir, but did not add a caption alongside the screenshots. Facebook subsequently removed the post for violating its policy on hate speech.
“As the board cannot hear every appeal, we are prioritising cases that have the potential to affect lots of users around the world, are of critical importance to public discourse or raise important questions about Facebook’s policies.
“The user indicated in their appeal to the oversight board that they wanted to raise awareness of the former prime minister’s horrible words,” it said.
Following the attack in Nice, France, Dr Mahathir had tweeted: “Muslims have a right to be angry and kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past.”
The October incident saw three people stabbed to death and several others injured, with the perpetrator believed to be motivated by anger at the publishing of derogatory caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
After publishing his post, Dr Mahathir had said reports on his remarks had been misrepresented to portray him as encouraging violence.
Another case Facebook is looking into is a post of a deceased child lying fully clothed on a beach at the water's edge, asking why there is no retaliation against China for its treatment of Uighur Muslims, in contrast to the recent killings in France related to cartoons.
The third hate speech case involves a user's post of alleged historical photos showing churches in Baku, Azerbaijan, with accompanying text stating that Baku was built by Armenians and asking where the churches have gone. – The Vibes, December 2, 2020
