Meta Apologises & Says PM's Postings Were Removed Due To "Operational Error"

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Anwar had posted three messages on Instagram and Facebook condemning Israel's recent assassination of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh on 30 July.

All three posts were removed and replaced with the caption, "Dangerous individuals and organisations". Previously, on 14 May, Anwar had another post removed as well.

This led the government to summon Meta to explain themselves yesterday. 

"The Prime Minister's Office views Meta's actions as a form of discrimination, unfair and restricts freedom of opinion. It also constitutes an affront to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for justice and human rights," a statement from PMO read.

The statement also questioned Meta's lack of transparency in handling the removal of the messages.

"The unilateral decision to censor content without considering the context raises concerns about Meta's transparency in its content moderation policies," the statement added. 

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din, who were part of the meeting, demanded Meta provide a detailed explanation along with a public apology.

Meta agreed, and a representative issued an apology about the matter today.

"We apologise for an operational error where content from the Prime Minister’s Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed, and the content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label," a Meta spokesperson emailed to Reuters.

However, a quick check by SAYS Tech found that Meta has yet to issue the apology publicly on its websites or social media handles.