Meta's bias, prejudice smack of hypocrisy

Platform Inc's (Meta) removal of a photo showing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar, raises questions about freedom of speech and expression on the social media platforms it owns.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Teheran on Wednesday after attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president. Israel is the prime suspect behind the assassination.

For many years, Hamas received the support of many nations for its struggle to free Palestine from Israeli occupation. However, the United States and other Western countries support Israel, instead, and have declared Hamas a terrorist group.

As a result of this declaration, many social media platforms, which are controlled by the West, clamp down on posts deemed to be sympathetic to Hamas.

Such comments or posts will be removed and the account holder will be suspended.

This restricts freedom of speech and expression and is a gross violation of human rights.

Freedom of speech and expression is part of basic human rights as stipulated under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and recognised in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966.

Unfortunately, the way certain issues are dealt with, especially in the case of Hamas, shows that certain countries and social media platforms of the so-called champions of democracy and human rights are actually dishonest when it comes to practising what they preach.