Did Israel Ask Meta, TikTok to Remove Hamas Content?

8,000 requests from Israel were sent to Meta and TikTok in relation to the Palestinian conflict, according to the Israeli state prosecutor’s office.

According to the statement the content related to Palestine violated the companies’ policies. 94% of the content on the major social platforms was taken down, according to the agency. And no, it wasn’t the algorithm that was encountering some setbacks.

The prosecutor’s office in Israel requested to remove material related to terrorist acts, violence, and any content related to terrorist organizations which in this case are the Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Also, it demanded the removal of several songs that supported Hamas and “served as soundtracks for thousands of videos on TikTok.” TikTok took down any video that was pro-Hamas which had a featured song on it. Forbes was informed that this was an innocent policy that they had to apply.

Different Platforms and Their Policies

Across the five different platforms—X, Google, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram—the content for moderating violative policies differs. All content pertaining to terror organizations that the US government has designated as terrorist organizations, like Hamas, is prohibited on these platforms. It was also made illegal to use violence or to make hate speech directed at someone’s race, nationality, ethnicity, or religion.

But isn’t this statement only targeted towards a certain group and not the other?

What about Telegram?

Is Telegram going to cause the Israeli government a challenge?

“There is a significant challenge with Telegram’s cooperation,” said Hadar Katz, spokesperson for Israel’s state prosecutor’s office.

Yes, Telegram is going to cause the Israeli government a problem because it is not taking sides. It is being used to share information and not take a stance against ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion.

The prosecutor’s office in Israel informed Forbes that Telegram does not seem to have complied with its orders. Telegram was utilized by accounts associated with Hamas to disseminate graphic images from the October 7 attacks and the ensuing conflict.

“Their cooperation presents a significant challenge,” stated Hadar Katz, the state office’s spokesperson for Israel.

If we were to arrange in order which company applied the removal of “misinformation,” in fourth place, we have YouTube and Telegram that took down 5% of the content. In third place, X took down 10% of the requested content. In the second place, we have TikTok which took down 26% (TikTok is beginning to show who it clearly stands with). In the first place, believe it or not, we have Meta that took down 60%, nearly 9,500 of the total content.

At the time of publication – when asked by Forbes – Meta, Telegram, X and not responded to requests for comment.

YouTube has claimed that there has been a high rise in offensive content material on the network ever since the conflict began. In the wake of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, YouTube has removed and eliminated hundreds of channels and tens of thousands of videos that are seen to be destructive.

Governments regularly order IT companies to remove offensive content. In the second half of 2022, TikTok received about 2,300 requests, according to its most recent accountability report. Of those, 82 came from Israel, only 11 from the United States, and 335 from Russia. Google acquired 60,000 requests in the first half of 2023; 223 of those requests came from Israel, 359 from the US, and an incredible 36,000 from Russia. Information about removal requests is kept confidential by Meta.

Always Keep in Mind as A Reader…

If people are able to differentiate between Judaism and Zionism, then these people should also be able to set Hamas apart from the Palestinians who are also immensely affected by the war. This is not being properly portrayed by social media platforms.

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