The online giant Meta lifted the restrictions it had set on a Facebook page run by the director of UN Watch after initially threatening to take it down over alleged violations. The apparent about-face was made after Israel Hayom contacted Meta to inquire as to the reasons behind its decision.
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According to UN Watch – which is a non-governmental organization "whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter" – Director Hillel Neuer received the warning on Tuesday because of a post that criticized Ben and Jerry's double standard regarding Israeli communities beyond the Green Line.
"Alert: Facebook is threatening to delete the account of our director Hillel Neuer… Why? Because of one post of his that showed a photo of Taliban gunmen sitting in the presidential palace in Kabul, with his caption: 'Prediction: Ben and Jerry's will never announce a boycott of the Taliban'," the organization said on its Facebook page and even launched an online petition.
The criticism of Ben and Jerry's prompted a warning that according to Neuer said, "Your page is at risk of being unpublished and has reduced distribution and other restrictions due to continued Community Standards violations."
According to UN Watch, "No explanation was provided, nor did Facebook respond to attempts by Neuer to appeal the ruling." UN Watch also noted that another warning included the message, "You could lose Hillel Neuer forever. Nobody wants that."
But ultimately after the outcry and Israel Hayom's inquiry, the restrictions were lifted on Wednesday afternoon. Meta released a statement saying the following: "This post was removed in error and has now been restored. We have also removed the restrictions on this Page, and have apologized to Hillel Neuer for the inconvenience caused."
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