(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. said it was sorry about removing Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s posts on its platforms that paid tribute to a top Hamas political leader who was killed last month.
“We apologize for an operational error where content from the Prime Minister’s Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed, and the content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label,” a Meta spokesperson said Tuesday in a statement.
A live stream of a rally Anwar attended on Aug. 4 also was briefly halted due to an intellectual-property complaint related to music, the statement said. Anwar spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in Kuala Lumpur that drew thousands then.
Malaysian government officials met with Meta representatives on Monday and later issued a missive calling the removal “discriminatory, unjust and a blatant suppression of free expression.”
“It is also seen as an affront to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people in their pursuit of justice and human rights,” the government said, demanding a public apology.
Ismail Haniyeh, who was in his early 60s, was based in Qatar and key to the cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas. He was killed in Tehran in July. Iran has blamed Israel for the attack. Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied responsibility.
Malaysia doesn’t recognize Israel as a sovereign state and the two countries have no diplomatic ties. Anwar met with a Hamas delegation led by Haniyeh during a visit to Qatar in May in a show of support for the group that’s been designated a terrorist organization by the US.
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