"Facebook Bill" progresses in the Israeli Parliament

The second and third reading should take place later this week. When it is enacted, the bill will give prosecutors an expedited procedure for removing content from social networking sites that they claim threatens public safety, national security, the life of the community An individual or the economy and the infrastructure of the country.

Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked Photo: Tal Azulay

Thursday, the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-profit organization focused on civil liberties and governance, published a study claiming that the bill has no legal international precedent.The countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada, which have already legislated a draft law aimed to eliminate illegal content, have the intention to respect self-imposed by the social networks themselves, the report said.
Israel has long used social media for repressive purposes. In 2017, the Minister of Home Affairs, Yisrael Katz, confirmed that Israel was using a predictive police system to identify and often detain Palestinians as potential aggressors, based on their activity on social networks. In June, at a conference on homeland security in Jerusalem, Erdan said that the state had prevented more than 200 alleged potential terrorist attacks by monitoring social media. At the time, Erdan also criticized Twitter, claiming that unlike other similar services, Twitter normally fails to remove content considered as terrorist propaganda by the Israeli authorities.