Israel approves ‘Facebook Law’ to force web platforms to remove content

The Israeli cabinet has approved new legislation – dubbed the ‘Facebook Law’ – to empower the Administrative Court to force Internet content providers to remove incitement from their platforms, at the state’s request. So far, the Israeli government can file requests to Internet companies to remove content, of which about 71 percent were addressed. According Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, ‘it is important for this cooperation to be obligatory’, as ‘people’s lives are at stake’. Facebook urged the Israeli government to ‘carefully [consider] the implications of this bill for Israeli democracy, freedom of speech, the open Internet and the dynamism of the Israeli Internet sector’.