SOURCE: THE PRINT
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeking a ban on posts promoting “Islamophobia and hate against Islam” on the social media platform. In his letter, Khan said India and France were majorly responsible for such content on Facebook.
“I am writing to draw your attention to the growing Isamophobia that is encouraging hate, extremism and violence across the world and especially through the use of social media platforms including Facebook,” his letter reads.
Khan referred to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register for Citizens (NRC) and the Tablighi Jamaat incident, when the community was blamed for the initial spread of Covid in India, to allege that they are the byproduct of Islamophobia in India.
“In India, anti-Muslim laws and measure such as CAA and NRC as well as targeted killing of Muslims and blaming Muslims for Coronavirus are reflective of the abominable phenomenon of Islamophobia,” the letter adds.
The Pakistan PM has, on several occasions, condemned the CAA and accused the Narendra Modi government of having a “Hindu supremacist agenda”.
Mentioning Jammu and Kashmir, Khan also alleged that there was a “pogrom against Muslims, which is ongoing in countries like India”. He said this was reflective of the bias and prejudice that could “encourage further radicalisation”.
Ban Islamophobia on Facebook: Imran Khan
Khan has called on Facebook to monitor Islamophobic posts like it has done for content on Holocaust.
“Given the rampant abuse and vilification of Muslims on social media platforms, I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for Holocaust,” his letter reads.
Khan’s letter comes in the wake of the beheading of a French teacher who had allegedly shown cartoons depicting the Prophet to his students.
The Pakistan Prime Minister had slammed French President Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of “deliberately provoking Muslims”, after Macron, in response to the beheading, described Islam as a religion in crisis.
Khan criticised France in his letter to Facebook too.
“In France, Islam has been associated with terrorism and publication of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam and our Holy Prophet have been allowed,” he said.
According to a Reuters report, a Facebook spokeswoman in response to Khan’s letter said the company was against all forms of hate and that it did not allow attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin or religion.
“We’ll remove this hate speech as soon as we become aware of it,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, adding that the company had “more work to do”.
