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Facebook Is Collaborating With The Israeli Government To Determine What Should Be Censored (go.com) 232

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: The Israeli government and Facebook agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network, a senior Israeli Cabinet minister said Monday. The announcement came after two government ministers met top Facebook officials to discuss the matter. The Facebook delegation is in Israel as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence. Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites. It has repeatedly said that Facebook should do more to monitor and control the content, raising a host of legal and ethical issues over whether the company is responsible for material posted by its users. Both Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, two key figures in Israel's battle against the alleged online provocations, participated in Monday's meeting. Erdan's office said they agreed with Facebook representatives to create teams that would figure out how best to monitor and remove inflammatory content, but did not elaborate further. Erdan and Shaked have proposed legislation that seeks to force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement. An opposition lawmaker has also proposed a bill seeking to force social networks to self-monitor or face a fine. Facebook said in a statement "online extremism can only be tackled with a strong partnership between policymakers, civil society, academia and companies, and this is true in Israel and around the world." The company did also say that its community standards "make it clear there is non place for terrorists or content that promotes terrorism on Facebook." ABC News reports that "over the past four months Israel submitted 158 requests to Facebook to remove inciting content and another 13 requests to YouTube," according to Shaked. "She said Facebook granted some 95 percent of the requests and YouTube granted 80 percent." All of this adds to the censorship controversy that is currently surrounding Facebook. Last week, Norway's largest newspaper accused Mark Zuckerberg of abusing power after his company decided to censor a historic photograph of the Vietnamese "Napalm Girl," claiming it violated the company's ban on "child nudity."
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Facebook Is Collaborating With The Israeli Government To Determine What Should Be Censored

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  • How about.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12, 2016 @05:12PM (#52874497)

    genocide. Yeah, let's censor genocide.

    • Re:How about.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12, 2016 @06:24PM (#52875029)

      Jews, the eternal victims in their own eyes, joining together to victimize others, and censor any reports of that.
      More they use their much propagated 'victim' status to morally blackmail and cover-up their own well substantiated crimes (genocide, ethnic cleansing, land grabs, apartheid laws, rape, torture, deliberate child killings on a mass scale, spying, corruption and influence pending of western governments, etc., etc..) less credibility and sympathy there will be for their true past sufferings.

    • by jedidiah ( 1196 )

      Genocide? The Palestinian population is going up. That's not genocide regardless of how much you want to redefine things.

      Aleppo is something that looks much more like genocide. Even that is simply war. That's the funny thing about war, people get killed and buildings get knocked down. Kids come home in body bags.

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        http://visualizingpalestine.or... [visualizingpalestine.org] The Israeli state was created on top of Palestine.
        • http://visualizingpalestine.or... [visualizingpalestine.org] The Israeli state was created on top of Palestine.

          Uh, in the early 20th century, after the Brits & French carved up the entire region b/w themselves and reduced Turkey to Anatolia and East Thrace, the term 'Palesinian' was used, but it was used to describe Jews, not Arabs. In fact, until 1967, the reason world opinion was usually behind Israel was that the rivary was perceived as one b/w the tiny state of Israel, vs 22 countries from Morocco to Iraq and Oman to Syria that comprised the Arab League. Once Yasser Arafat rebranded the Arabs in Judea and

  • Bold claims (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12, 2016 @05:24PM (#52874573)

    The company did also say that its community standards "make it clear there is non place for terrorists or content that promotes terrorism on Facebook."

    Even when the terror is being incited by a major state like the US or China? Or Israel? Somehow I doubt they're going to stick by this.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Just look at what's happening.. the most racist government on earth is asking facebook to censor criticism of its actions.. this is gastapo level nazi stuff..

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12, 2016 @05:25PM (#52874579)

    And there it is boys and girls, the sanitation of unapproved thoughts. Brought to you by Facebook.

    • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      Well Facebook has been doing it at the behest of the EU government and Germany since December 2015 with regards to the influx of illegals in the EU. It shouldn't be a surprise that other governments are jumping on-board.

    • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      Incitement to violence is not protected speech in the US, either. Get over yourselves, you fucking idiots.

    • by Burz ( 138833 )

      And unapproved boycotts = Can't leave Israel [theintercept.com], travel rights revoked.

      That is an oppressive police state and its getting worse.

  • by amiga3D ( 567632 ) on Monday September 12, 2016 @05:26PM (#52874593)

    So pointless. Censorship so seldom works, all it does is make you lose credibility.

    • So pointless. Censorship so seldom works, all it does is make you lose credibility.

      I think it depends a lot on how it's implemented.

      If they're censoring calls for a protest or video's of a demolition than obviously that's outrageous.

      But if they're censoring calls for people to plant a bomb on a school bus... that I'm a lot more comfortable with.

      Obviously the reality will be somewhere in between, with mistakes made on both sides, but I think there's a way to do it right, and a way to do it very wrong.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    If the brainwashing were complete and foolproof none of the sheeple would think or say anything that required censoring. The spirit of free thought is not quite dead yet.

  • Does anyone remembers that facebook got sued not long ago for collaborating with terrorism? It seems that it worked, they got scared.
  • I block the recruitment by mass murdering jihadi
    You stop incitement to violence against civilians
    He censors free speech

    Given the flow of low level attacks against civilian targets in Israel over the years, the idea of allowing Facebook to leave proponents of such attacks unchallenged is unreasonable. It's a matter of degree, but let's not pretend there aren't some out there who should be censored - or doesn't commending 9/11 with a call to complete it by hitting the White House and Capitol Hill strike you a

    • or doesn't commending 9/11 with a call to complete it by hitting the White House and Capitol Hill strike you as unacceptable?

      I disagree with both the commendation and the call to further violence, but it is only when we disagree with what someone is saying that we are tested on our commitment to the principle of the free exchange of information and ideas. To be clear, I do not wish to see statements, such as above, censored or blocked (to paraphrase Hall wrt Voltaire).

      Let them speak. If the idea has no merit, it will have as much impact as any other rant or rave of the fringe lunatics. If, on the other hand, there is some group o

      • The problem is that endorsing violence undermines the whole basis of a democratic state. If I am allowed to call for armed resistance to the government every time I am upset about what they are proposing, you are providing a recipe for civil war tomorrow. There must be a general commitment to accepting the right of the government to make unpopular decisions, or your state WILL crumble.

        It's also important to note that threats of violence in themselves limit freedom of speech. This is most obviously demonstra

    • by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Monday September 12, 2016 @06:21PM (#52874993) Journal
      Given the flow of low level attacks against civilian targets in Israel over the years,

      You mean low level attacks against civilians in Palestine by Israelis over the years. It is well known and well documented that Jews who go on to Palestinian land and destroy their crops are for all intents and purposes, never caught and those who might be implicated are never punished.

      As we saw when a Jewish terrorist burned alive a Palestinian mother and her child, punishment against Jews are laughable at best and non-existent on the whole. No Jew has ever had their house destroyed when they commit a terrorist act and never, to my knowledge, has a Jew ever been put in solitary confinement for whatever terrorist act they have committed.

      So spare us how it's acceptable to ban one form of speech when the Israeli government not only condones such acts but helps them when it uses the power of its military to force Palestinians off the land and out of the homes they have lived in before Israel even existed.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        Mod parent to 5.

        If the American media reported what President Carter outlined in his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid", Israel wouldn't enjoy its "special relationship" with America, or any western state for that matter.

        It's a shame that a people, who have suffered so much, have 0 qualms taking over Pharaoh's Whip and lording over others in a manner no better than the Nazi occupied Warsaw ghetto.

    • by jrumney ( 197329 )

      It's a matter of degree, but let's not pretend there aren't some out there who should be censored

      Whatever your views are on the limits of free speech, Israeli politicians are not exactly a neutral party here. If you want to draw a line, and have it somewhere beyond where the US might draw it, then talk to some Europeans, who tend place more limits on hate speech, but at least are going to apply it consistently. If you're going to allow Israel free rein on defining what is and isn't free speech, then other countries, particularly those in the vicinity are going to demand the same attention, and Faceboo

  • by Anonymous Coward

    In this context, I find its historical connotations spot on.

    Facebook, like ISPs, is someday going to have to choose between being a common carrier or a creator/purveyor of content. I'm sure they want to have their cake and eat it too, of course. They dont' want to be perceived as a media giant, yet they "curate" "trending topics". While also wanting to be the ISP for the third world (controlling content to Facebook-owned sites at that). What a greedy two-faced corporate monster.

  • by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Monday September 12, 2016 @05:54PM (#52874779) Journal

    "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it" - John Gilmore

    And in a competitive marketplace, failure to provide a desired service doesn't permanently suppress the service. Instead it provides a market opportunity for competition.

    So Facebook and YouTube start censoring certain viewpoints? Suddenly there's a customer base for their (current or potential) competition: people with those viewpoints, people who want to see those viewpoints, and people who want to be able to post or view without censorship and/or distortion from its built-in biases.

    Institutional and/or governmental suppression just creates a "forbidden fruit" attraction - especially for adolescents in the "Young Warrior" age group, THE primary target for anti-establishment military recruitment.

    Alcohol prohibition created a generation of drunks and organized crime to supply them, drug prohibition (and the "drug war") has done the same for at least THREE generations of drug users, McCarthyist anti-Communism created a backlash that has become institutionalized. I could go on - at least as far back as Rome and the Christians.

    These all show that attempts to directly suppress ideas and social movements tend to be counter-productive. Why should a Facebook / Israel government attempt to suppress Palestinians, ISIS, or other groups they dislike be any more effective?

    • We create our own monsters.

  • by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Monday September 12, 2016 @06:11PM (#52874921)
    Yup. Nothing like letting a group of people who claim that God has a deal with them that he will always side with them over others decide what is and isn't acceptable for others to say.
  • No more bacon memes on my wall :(

  • Facebook Is Collaborating With The Israeli Government To Determine What It Might Need to Censor in Order to Keep Operating in Israel

  • Then sell the platform to the world with freedom of speech, freedom of the press as been very easy to redefine globally.
  • Any reference to Ghandi is going to be censored on Israeli Facebook?

    http://www.history.com/this-da... [history.com]

  • F*ck them! In the United States we have something called the FIRST AMENDMENT! We have the RIGHT to say basically whatever the HELL we want! If you don't like it - don't read it!

    As a U.S. Military Veteran I may not agree with or like what you have to say but I'll defend, to the death, your RIGHT to say it!

    So Israel can just go F*ck themselves! And F*ck Facebook too for being ANTI-First Amendment and also therefore ANTI-Veteran! Facebook is saying they hate our military and basically are spitting on the gra

    • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      Anyone who is anti-YOU is doing the world a favor. You are obviously suffering from some psychological condition. Did that start before or during your tour of duty?

      • What loser! You obviously are too busy in your mommies basement waiting for her to bring you a pop tart.

  • Pot Kettle Black (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sir Holo ( 531007 ) on Monday September 12, 2016 @08:00PM (#52875719)

    FTA: Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites.

    Yeah, those 40-foot-high walls that Israel is plopping down through the middle of Palestinian cities has absolutely nothing to do with the anger of Palestinians at Israel's illegal seizure of their land, or the destruction of the (200+ yr-old) olive orchards at-will. Or further their making even a modicum of a 'normal life' impossible for the refugees of former Palestinian territory – stolen by expansionist Israeli governing parties from Palestinians.

    Any and all "agreed-upon" borders have been violated by Israel. Palestinian children throw stones to voice their anger – and Israeli helicopter gunships fire missiles into Palestinian homeland territories.

    This "story" of placing blame for censorship on private companies like FaceBook is a complete diversion from the actual reality of what is going on in that territory.

    • ^This!

      Check out what Miko Peled has to say about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians [youtube.com]

      As the grandson of a signatory to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the son of an Israeli general, a former soldier himself, and the uncle of a 13-year-old niece who was killed in a suicide attack in Jerusalem, Miko Peled has both credibility and some serious skin in the game. When he debunks revisionist history, criticizes Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and devotes his life to the cause of peace and the

  • Well Zuckerberg is Jewish so no surprises that he's going to push the Israeli agenda.
    So I guess Facebook will now censor anything that makes Palestinians look human or like victims, and anything that dares to question what the Israeli government is doing.

    • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      You are the single most stupid person most people who encounter you will ever encounter. You know absolutely nothing about US-Israeli relations if you can write those words. Your willful ignorance is so blinding, you should be buried alive to protect the vision of those around you.

      • by JustNiz ( 692889 )

        So clearly you're Jewish then, and are another of the assholes tying to manipulate everyone else to a radical pro-Israeli viewpoint.
        As to your personal insults wishing me dead, such a very fucking mature argument. And BTW go fuck yourself.

  • Yes, just remove the discussion from the public eyes, and i'm pretty sure it will go all fine! instead of creating some sort of very dangerous hidden "safe space" where ideas brew without any limit of reasonable people to stop it.

  • So you can bet that on-the-ground footage showing excessive force by IDF and the like can be deemed "inflammatory". Israel's PR cleaners are panicking that the state doesn't have the control over western media that it once did, thanks to the advent of social media.

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