Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, apologized on Tuesday for mistakenly removing posts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim about Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination.
The posts were taken down due to what Meta called an “operational error.”
Anwar’s office called Meta representatives to explain the deletion. Which involved a video of Anwar offering condolences and an Instagram note that connected the content to “dangerous individuals and organisations.”
Meta has since restored the posts and added appropriate news tags.
Anwar’s office criticized the removal as “a blatant suppression of free expression,” Anwar had previously accused Meta of “cowardice” for deleting the posts.
This incident occurred after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, an attack blamed on Israel. Israel, the United States, and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Anwar, who met with Haniyeh in Qatar earlier this year, defended Malaysia’s ties with Hamas, clarifying that Malaysia’s connections are with Hamas’s political wing, not its military branch.
