TEHRAN- Meta’s double-standard and hypocritical policies are back in the limelight in the wake of the Israeli assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The American-based tech firm which owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, among other products and services has sparked a backlash over removing posts about Haniyeh’s murder. 

Ordinary people and prominent world leaders have posted messages of condolences since Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital on Wednesday morning. He had traveled to Tehran for the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian. 

Condemning cowardice 

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim posted a video recording of his phone call with a Hamas official on Facebook on Wednesday to offer condolences following Haniyeh’s death. But the tech company, which is owned by US billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, removed his post. It also took down a similar post published on the premier’s Instagram account. 

Anwar denounced the move, saying, “Let this serve as a clear and unequivocal message to Meta: cease this display of cowardice and stop acting as instruments of the oppressive Zionist Israeli regime.” 

Meta’s takedown of his posts was accompanied by the caption, “Dangerous individuals and organizations.”

Meta has designated the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement as a “dangerous organization” and bans content praising it. 

Censuring censorship 

Turkey’s communications chief and a top adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also condemned Instagram for preventing people from posting messages of condolences over Haniyeh’s assassination. 

“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Fahrettin Altun said on Wednesday. 

He added, “We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly shown that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice.”

The Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority blocked access to Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social media platform, on Friday for “censoring” Hamas-related content.

Such biased approaches by Meta are not unprecedented. 

Bias towards Israel, US

Meta has already stirred controversy by abruptly removing Instagram and Facebook accounts belonging to the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. The US firm blocked Ayatollah Khamenei’s accounts in February after he condemned Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. 

Meta adopted the same policy when the United States assassinated Iranian anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq in January 2020.

It removed comments praising the late general, who played a key role in helping Iraqi and Syrian armies defeat ISIL, and hashtags such as #Soleimani. 

Such moves by Meta cast doubt on Western claims of upholding freedom of expression, revealing a willingness to stifle the voices of the voiceless. Besides, they expose a broader pattern of support for Israel and its main supporter, the United States. 

Nonetheless, as Israel continues its war of genocide in Gaza, Meta’s pro-Israel bias remains under the spotlight. 

In fact, as Israel is massacring Palestinian people in Gaza, the US is abetting the regime’s genocide through its tech firms. The removal of posts in support of Palestine and condemnation of the Israeli carnage in Gaza are aimed at helping the regime sweep its atrocious crimes under the rug. 

In other words, Israel perpetrates atrocities and Meta, on behalf of the US and some other Western states, acts as a facilitator of genocide.