ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN) – Pakistan’s prime minister has appealed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ban Islamophobic content on the site, He pinpointed that an increase in radicalisation prevailed amongst Muslims, the government said on Sunday.
In a letter, which the Pakistani government posted on Twitter, Imran Khan said that “growing Islamophobia” was leading to extremism and violence across the world, mainly through social media platforms such as Facebook.
Khan said, “I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust.”
Khan said, adding that this was “reflective of prejudice and bias that will encourage further radicalisation. One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others.”
While responding to Khan’s appeal, a Facebook spokeswoman told the company did not support any form of hate, neither did it allow attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin or religion.
The spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, adding that the company had “more work to do”. She said, “We’ll remove this hate speech as soon as we become aware of it.”
Khan, in his letter, made a reference to the situation in France, where, he said, Islam was being linked with terrorism.