PUTRAJAYA, May 16 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil hopes the incident involving social media platform operator Meta Platforms Inc, which removed a news report of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's meeting with Hamas' leader on its platform, will not be repeated in the future.
He said social media platforms need to respect Malaysia's stance as a sovereign country, including reporting on any statements made by members of the administration, including the Prime Minister.
"Alhamdulillah. We hope it will not happen again.
"In June, I will hold a meeting with all the platforms to affirm that Malaysia as a sovereign country, under the existing leadership have a very clear position on several matters," Fahmi said.
He was speaking at a press conference following the Special Events Committee Meeting in conjunction with the Coronation Ceremony of His Majesty the King of Malaysia today in response to queries about Meta's actions, which re-uploaded the post.
Earlier, it was reported that Meta re-uploaded the news report of Anwar's meeting with the Hamas leader on their social media platform, which was taken down yesterday.
The company said it made a mistake after the Malaysian government wanted to impose tough measures against Meta and other social media companies if they continued to block pro-Palestinian content on their platforms.
"The removal action issued was an error and has now been restored," a Meta spokesman said in an email to Reuters.
On Tuesday (May 14), Anwar met Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, during which he insisted that although he has a good relationship with the political leader, he was not involved in its military actions.
Yesterday, Fahmi said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had sent a letter to Meta to seek an explanation regarding the removal of the news report of Anwar's meeting with the top leader of Hamas on several local media platforms.
— Bernama
