Between Facebook and Israel, it’s an old story. We have to go back to the fall of 2015 and the wave of stabbing attacks that hit the country. Attacks perpetrated by isolated Palestinian terrorists, but who already found their inspiration in the propaganda and the apology for violence against Israel circulating on social networks. The Israeli government then turned to the management of Facebook to alert them to the seriousness of the phenomenon. It will take nearly two years of negotiations with the American company for it to finally agree to install on its platform a reporting system for content of incitement to terrorism, as it was already doing for pornographic or pedophile content. And in Israel, Facebook is not like in the United States, protected by the exemption from liability for the content posted by its users. But it is always the company that retains control over the maintenance or removal of content that harms a person, without having to explain its method.
Israel is not the only state that is beginning to seriously worry about the damage caused by the abuses seen on Facebook, whether it is the dissemination of fake news, invasion of privacy, not to mention the devastation on the world. adolescents and serious psychological disorders caused in the most vulnerable. The Minister of Communication Yoaz Hendel has therefore decided to form a committee of wise men who will be responsible for studying all aspects of the functioning of Facebook and its effects and to propose a series of recommendations, some of which will be retained to be the subject of texts of laws. Among the experts approached, we find Internet and communication specialists, but also lawyers and even a philosopher. This will involve considering the legal, technical, but also ethical aspects related to the use of social networks and the means of limiting their impunity and forcing them to be more transparent.
However, there is no question of blocking access to social networks, which are now an integral part of the media landscape and the social fabric. In Israel, you should know that the use of these platforms has almost become the primary means of communication. More than 90% of Israelis use WhatsApp at least twice a day, 85% have the Facebook app on their phone and 76% have an Instagram account. The recent global outage of Facebook and WhatsApp was particularly felt in Israel.
We will therefore have to find a middle ground between better control of the content disseminated to prevent abuses and the preservation of freedoms, starting with freedom of expression, which there is obviously no question of censoring. If this involves more regulation, it will also be necessary to invest in education, to make the youngest aware of a code of conduct on social networks. In Israel, it has long been known that a Facebook post can arm a terrorist. Today he has to work on everything else. And well-thought-out legislation could inspire other countries that are also seeking to protect their societies from the excesses of internet giants and their communication platforms.
Pascale Zonszain
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