Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

aljazeera.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 22 posts

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#3

Post by eli_gottlieb »

And by "Facebook blocks accounts" we mean:

>Editors from two Palestinian news publications based in the occupied West Bank say their Facebook accounts were suspended last week and that no reason was provided, alleging their pages may have been censored because of a recent agreement between the US social media giant and the Israeli government aimed at tackling "incitement".

Rubbish journalism: no actual causal connection between the Israeli government, Facebook, and the pages being taken down has been established. It's merely assumed to be there because al-Jazeera and its readership are predisposed to believe the nefarious tentacles of the Israeli government can reach anywhere.

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#4

Post by Flimm »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #3

And by "Facebook blocks accounts" we mean: >Editors from two Palestinian news publications based in the occupied West Bank say their Facebook accounts were suspended last week and that no reason was provided, alleging their pages may have been censored because of a recent agreement between the US social media giant and the Israeli government aimed at tackling "incitement". Rubbish journalism: no actual causal connect…

"blocks" and "suspends" accounts are the same thing. Nothing you said or that the article said contradicts the headline.

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#5

Post by DiabloD3 »

Flimm wrote: post #4
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #3

And by "Facebook blocks accounts" we mean: >Editors from two Palestinian news publications based in the occupied West Bank say their Facebook accounts were suspended last week and that no reason was provided, alleging their pages may have been censored because of a recent agreement between the US social media giant and the Israeli government aimed at tackling "incitement". Rubbish journalism: no actual causal connect…

"blocks" and "suspends" accounts are the same thing. Nothing you said or that the article said contradicts the headline.

To be absolutely fair, the italicised parts are important.

There is no proof, only accusation.

Edit: The article also does not prove that Facebook unblocked them (as no block was proved), nor reached out to Facebook on if they did indeed respond saying it was accidental.

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#6

Post by Crosseye_Jack »

That's a nice site your have there Mr Zuckerberg it would be a shame if something were to happen to it... Block a few "trouble makers" or risk being being blocked nationwide.

Random guess. Facebook got put in a position where if they didn't allow Israeli to close down accounts due to "incitement" they ran the risk of being labelled as an "incitement website" and having access blocked completely. So they chose what was better for their business. I don't agree with it but it's facebooks garden and they can choose who plays in it and who acts as the gatekeepers to it. Same happens on other sites. reddit block access to certain pages from Russia (though they only filter on a country wide basis and not remove content for everyone else). If Twitter thinks you are a problem (or becoming one) they will boot you off.

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#7

Post by shkkmo »

Crosseye_Jack wrote: post #6

That's a nice site your have there Mr Zuckerberg it would be a shame if something were to happen to it... Block a few "trouble makers" or risk being being blocked nationwide. Random guess. Facebook got put in a position where if they didn't allow Israeli to close down accounts due to "incitement" they ran the risk of being labelled as an "incitement website" and having access blocked completely. So they chose what wa…

> though they only filter on a country wide basis and not remove content for everyone else)

And that is a very critical difference.

Censorship happens on many platforms, but when that censorship is being done to journalists the violations are particularly egregious.

Re: Facebook 'blocks accounts' of Palestinian journalists

#9

Post by yfj211 »

LorenPechtel wrote: post #8

An awful lot of what comes out of Palestinian journalists is incitement. Is it any surprise that something is being done about it?

Boy, that's quite a loaded statement considering many Israeli politicians have also repeatedly called for the genocide of Palestinians (http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/netanyahu-palestinians-governm...). I'm quite surprised nothing is being done about that.
Post reply on HN