Meta restores Facebook posts of Malaysian PM Anwar's meeting with Hamas

Meta Platforms has restored Facebook posts by Malaysian media covering Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's meeting this week with a Hamas leader, saying they were removed in error.

"Two posts were removed in error and have now been restored," a Meta spokesperson said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.

Anwar met Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Qatar on Monday. He later stressed that though he had good relations with the group's political leaders, he had no involvement in its military apparatus.

Afterward, Malaysia had sent a letter asking Meta to explain the taking down of posts by two media organisations about the meeting, as well as the closure of a Facebook account last month belonging to a third outlet, the Malaysia Gazette, which covers Palestinian issues.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who is also the government's spokesperson, condemned the removal of the posts, accusing US organisations of not respecting the freedom of media outlets.

The Malaysia Gazette said on Wednesday that its appeal to Facebook to reactivate the account had been accepted and is now operational again.

Restricting pro-Palestine content

Malaysia supports the establishment of a sovereign and free Palestine state through the two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders with the occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. It also calls for the admission of Palestine as a full Member of the United Nations.

Meta has said it does not deliberately suppress voices on its Facebook platform, adding there was "no truth" to the claim it was restricting content supporting the Palestinians.

Meta designates Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement that governs Gaza, as a "dangerous organisation" and bans content praising the group.

It also uses a mix of automated detection and human review to remove or label graphic visuals.

Earlier this month, Meta employees published an open letter calling out the company's internal and external censorship of any show of support for Palestinians.

It also said the company removed "any open support for our Palestinian colleagues or the millions facing a humanitarian crisis in Palestine" on the company forum such as Workspace.