Social-Media Giants Threatened With Action Over Terror Incitement

The Israeli government will take steps to curb terrorist incitement on social media if the networks themselves do not take action, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan warned social-media sites.

“Social-media companies are happy to use the data they collect on all of us to make money, but unfortunately not to help stop terror,” the minister was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post, in a speech Sunday.

“These companies must recognize that their platforms are used as a tool of terror,” Erdan said. “I call on Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and their colleagues to take the initiative to monitor and remove this incitement on their own. If they refuse and continue to ignore their role in promoting incitement, governments must pass legislation forcing them to do so.”

Erdan said that there is no doubt that rampant incitement on social media has played an integral part in promoting the campaign of terror in Israel over the past six months, and that the social-media companies must take responsibility.