Saying anything negative about Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur’an, is a crime worth of death (as recently demonstrated). And Facebook must remove all such blasphemy. Time to post the Muhammad cartoons on Facebook again.
A high-level Facebook executive met with the interior minister in Pakistan last week to discuss Pakistan’s demand that the social media platform remove what the Islamist country deems “blasphemous content.”
The fact the meeting took place at all speaks volumes about Facebook’s intent.
First, the tete-a-tete, the first-ever discussion on the issue between a senior Facebook exec and the Pakistani government, comes on the heels of the decision by a Pakistani “counter-terrorism” court to sentence a 30-year-old man to death for making “blasphemous” comments on Facebook.
Such an outrageous verdict should have caused any company serious about human rights to refuse to engage with such a regime. Even the fact that there exists such a law such a law that violates the basic — and what should be universal — right to freedom of speech should be reason to protest.
Yet apparently, business is business for Facebook.
Facebook has 33-million users in Pakistan. So not only did Facebook engage with the Pakistani government, they made assurances to the sharia-compliant country that they were committed to keeping their platform “safe” by “promoting values” that are in congruence with their “community standards.”
Facebook also committed to removing explicit, hateful and provocative posts that incite violence and terrorism.
In Pakistan, that means blasphemous content (as per Pakistan’s definition of blasphemy). Because in Pakistan, just the mere mention of blasphemy can incite mob violence and extra-judicial lynchings.
Via Clarion