KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government has received indication that there was a “higher level” decision at Meta to remove Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Instagram post on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The minister said that while this did not come directly from the social media platform’s representatives here, they told the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) that they did not have the authority to manipulate Anwar’s post.
"It's likely that this decision was made at a higher level, possibly from a different rank. We will seek confirmation,” Fahmi was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.
The minister then repeated his criticism of Meta over the removal of Anwar’s post on Ismail Haniyeh.
The post in question was from May, when Anwar met with Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders at the sidelines of the prime minister’s official trip to Qatar.
On July 31, the PM criticised the removal and held it up as evidence of bias against Palestinians in their ongoing conflict wit Israel.
Meta also removed some of Anwar’s more recent posts on Haniyeh, including one in which he paid tribute to the Hamas leader who was assassinated in Tehran, Iran, while attending the presidential inauguration there.
The incident also comes as Malaysia is proposing to introduce mandatory licensing for social media platforms in the country that serve over eight million local users.
