Several right-wing lawmakers on Sunday presented a bill seeking to allow social media users to sue platforms in the event of "unjust censorship" of the content they post.
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Social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram moderate user-generated content – each according to their own community content guidelines – mostly with the aim of preventing incitement, discrimination, and the dissemination of fake news.
Israel's political Right was atwitter on Sunday after Facebook and Instagram suspended the accounts of Yair Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, for 24 hours after he posted the home address of Yamina MK Nir Orbach.
Young Netanyahu called on followers to protest outside the lawmaker's home to pressure him to vote against joining the government seeking to unseat the prime minister.
Twitter suspended Yair Netanyahu's account on Friday, for the same reason.
On Sunday, Facebook also suspended the account of right-wing pundit Yedidya Meir, deleting a column calling on readers to do everything in their power to stop the emerging left-center government, short of violence.
The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan, seeks to allow users to seek legal action against social media platforms if they feel their posts were removed unjustly.
The bill further seeks to mandate Facebook and Twitter to explain in detail why posts are removed and generally subject them to the guidelines that apply to any other public service in Israel.
"The muzzling of right-wingers on social media is very troubling and it severely undermines the freedom of expression. It is our duty as public officials to defend every person's legal right to free speech under the law," Distel Atbaryan told Israel Hayom.
Religious Zionist Party MK Simcha Rotman, echoed her remarks, saying, "Social media present itself as an 'open forum', but in fact, in the absence of transparency and by misleading all users they force a political position. Unfortunately, these violations, in Israel and abroad, usually serve the left side of the political map and try to apply the prevailing positions in Silicon Valley to all of us."
The bill, he said, "Seeks to require that social media platforms declare their blocking policies, and will allow those who have been harmed by them, to seek damages easily and efficiently, in Israel, under Israeli law."
Also on Sunday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, also presented a legislative proposal seeking to allow users who feel they have been wronged by Facebook to sue for damages.
"Facebook silences the public, prevents freedom of expression, and intervened in elections in Israel and abroad," he said. "Facebook has crossed all the red lines and it's time to take action against it.
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