PETALING JAYA: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has slammed Meta, Instagram’s parent company, for removing a post from the social media platform that featured a meeting between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar in May.
PMO said this action by Meta "clearly reflects a bias against the situation in Palestine and its leaders".
"We demand an explanation regarding this matter and urge Meta to issue an apology," it said in a Facebook post.
PMO also shared screenshots showing that Instagram had taken down the post yesterday because the account had "shared or sent symbols, praised or supported people and organisations that we defined as dangerous, or followed them".
On May 14, it was reported that Anwar had met with a Hamas delegation, led by Haniyeh, during his official visit to Qatar.
Anwar said that at the meeting, he conveyed his condolences on the death of Ismail’s family members who were killed in a bombing by Israel. He also said he was briefed on the situation in Gaza and Rafah.
Statements and pictures of the meeting had been shared across Anwar’s official social media accounts, including on Facebook and Instagram.
This is the second time Meta removed content related to the meeting. Previously, Facebook posts covering Anwar’s meeting with the Hamas leader were also removed.
However, Meta later restored the posts which they said were taken down in error.
Earlier today, Reuters reported that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of the country’s new president.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony.
The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
