Tech giant Meta issued an apology on Tuesday for removing social media posts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim regarding the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The apology came a day after Anwar’s office summoned Meta representatives to demand an explanation for the removal of the leader’s Facebook and Instagram posts about Haniyeh’s death. Meta, the parent company of the two popular social media platforms, attributed the incident to an “operational error.”
“We apologize for an operational error where content from the Prime Minister’s Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed,” Meta stated in an email to AFP. “The content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label.”
The political leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas was killed in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday in an attack widely blamed on Israel. Although Israel has not directly commented on the incident, Anwar’s posts, including a video of him on a phone call with a Hamas official offering condolences, were taken down.
An Instagram note shared by Anwar, attributed to Meta, stated that the posts were removed due to association with “dangerous individuals and organizations.” Anwar’s office condemned the removal as “a blatant suppression of free expression” and demanded an apology from Meta.
Last week, Anwar accused the tech giant of “cowardice” for removing his posts. Israel, the United States, and the European Union all classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Anwar, who met with Haniyeh in Qatar in May, has defended Malaysia’s ties with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group, which launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, triggering the war in Gaza. Anwar emphasized during a visit to Germany in March that Malaysia’s relations were with Hamas’ political wing, not its military arm.
