Pakistani PM Imran Khan asks Facebook to ban Islamophobic content
- Facebook said this month it was updating its hate speech policy to ban any content that denied or distorted the Holocaust
- Earlier, Khan said that French President Emmanuel Macron had ‘attacked Islam’ by encouraging cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed
In a letter, which the Pakistani government posted on Twitter, Khan said that “growing Islamophobia” was encouraging extremism and violence across the world, especially through social media platforms such as Facebook.
“I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” Khan said.
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“One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others,” Khan said, adding that this was “reflective of prejudice and bias that will encourage further radicalisation”.
In response to Khan’s appeal, a Facebook spokeswoman 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”.
Khan’s comments came after Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher beheaded by an Islamist radical who wanted to avenge the use of cartoons depicting the prophet in a class on freedom of expression. Macron said the teacher “was killed because Islamists want our future.”
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In a series of tweets, Khan said the remark would sow division.
“This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation,” Khan wrote.
“It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists.”
Macron already sparked controversy earlier this month when he said “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world”.
The French teacher became the target of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material – the same images that sparked a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the original publisher, in January 2015.
Caricatures of Mohammed are forbidden by Islam. Blasphemy is an explosive issue in ultraconservative Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty.
“By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world,” Khan said.
In an address to the United Nations last month, Khan, a populist leader who has been known to play to Pakistan’s hardline religious base, blasted Charlie Hebdo for republishing the cartoons, saying “wilful provocations” should be “universally outlawed”.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
