An Israeli NGO said Tuesday it was suing Facebook for failing to
remove pages that encourage the killing of Jews, after a wave of attacks
by Palestinians left nine Israelis dead.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner,
director of the Shurat HaDin organisation that filed the lawsuit in the
New York State Court on Monday, said the claim holds the internet giant
responsible for the presence of posts
that incite violence.
It
calls on the company to remove more than 1 000 inflammatory pages and
improve its monitoring mechanisms, but does not seek monetary damages.
"The
same way they can tell what coffee you drink in the morning and push
you ads or connect me with my friends that have similar hobbies, they
can monitor these threats and take down the posts of encouragement and
glorification of terror attacks," Darshan-Leitner told AFP.
Around
20 000 Israelis have backed the move in an online petition, but are not
plaintiffs in the case, added the activist lawyer, whose group files
legal actions it says are aimed at safeguarding Jewish rights.
One
of the names on the list is that of US-Israeli Richard Lakin, put there
by his family after he was shot and stabbed on a bus in East Jerusalem
two weeks ago.
The 76-year-old succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday, making him the ninth Israeli to die in attacks since October 1.
His son Micah Avni Lakin told journalists his father was a keen user of social media.
"One
of the things that comes out of the tragic, horrific event that
happened to my father, is the need to rethink the way we look at social
media,' he said.
"To be able to put on Facebook or Twitter
specific instructions on how to slice somebody's chest straight open and
cut their intestines, just like was done to my father... is just
completely and utterly unacceptable," he told reporters, saying he had
made the same point to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during his
recent visit.
'Lawsuit without merit'
"This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously," Facebook said in a statement to AFP.
"We
want people to feel safe when using Facebook. There is no place for
content encouraging violence, direct threats, terrorism or hate speech
on Facebook," the statement said.
"We urge people to use our
reporting tools if they find content that they believe violates our
standards so we can investigate and take swift action."
Darshan-Leitner said she was confident the case would be a success.
Until
now "people complaining about hate speech or incitement on Facebook
could not prove that these incitements led [directly to] an imminent and
realistic danger".
Fifty-six Palestinians and one Israeli Arab have been killed in the wave of violence, around half of whom are alleged attackers.
With
no political movement appearing to spearhead the unrest, social media
posts praising the attacks and encouraging them have been accused of
stoking the violence.
One video, highlighted by Israel's
ambassador to the UN, included a section showing the best spots on the
body to stab someone in order to kill them.
The hashtag
#Jerusalemintifada in Arabic has been widely shared online and videos of
attacks and their aftermath are quickly uploaded.
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has characterised the uprising as "Bin Laden
meets [Facebook founder] Mark Zuckerberg".
Facebook has 30 days to respond to the claim.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Facebook sued over posts to urge attacks on Jews
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Write comments