Mark Zuckerberg got a whole lot more negative press, this time coming over the weekend from Israel's minister of internal security on the country's Channel 2 TV station. Zuckerberg has already upset his neighbors in Hawaii, and Facebook recently got under the skin of Brazil's judicial system.
Last Thursday, June 30, a 19-year-old Palestinian jumped through a fence into an Israeli settlement and fatally stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli girl who had been asleep in her bed. Prior to that attack, the assailant praised, in a Facebook post, a vehicular attack carried out by a Palestinian woman and, in another post, stated that "death is a right and I demand the right to die."
Israeli officials want more out of Facebook with regard to spotting and addressing "a wave of terror" that has washed over the social network, according to Israel's Gilad Erdan, minister of internal security.
"Facebook today, which brought an amazing, positive revolution to the world, sadly, we see this since the rise of Daesh (Islamic State) and the wave of terror, it has simply become a monster," Erdan stated in the TV interview.
The minister asserted the company sabotages the efforts of Israeli police. With regard to "residents of Judea and Samaria," Facebook offers no cooperation with Israeli authorities, he stated.
"It also sets a very high bar for removing inciteful content and posts," he said.
A Facebook spokesperson responded to the security minister's remarks and retorting stating that the company regularly collaborates with policy makers and security organizations all around the world.
"There is no room for content that promotes violence, direct threats, terrorist or hate speeches on our platform," the spokesperson said.
The flack from Israel's security minister was just the latest knot in a string of bad press for Facebook and Zuckerberg. As Brazil tries to clean up its act in time for the Summer Olympics, Facebook has found itself bearing the cross and the crux in yet another encryption case involving drug dealing.
A judge in Brazil froze Facebook's Brazilian bank account, which was stocked with $6 million, because the social media company had refused to turn over messages encrypted by WhatsApp. Prosecutors argue that their capture of several criminals with international drug ties will fall apart unless Facebook hands over the messages.
And around that time, it was revealed that Zuckerberg angered his neighbors in Hawaii by building a 6-foot wall around his property, this coming on the heels of a report stating the Facebook CEO bought and demolished residences around his Palo Alto home.
