Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are facing a one-billion-dollar lawsuit because, lawyers say, it took them too long to take down a terrorist Facebook page – and Americans died.
Terrorist groups have started using social media to do their recruiting and planning. (Example: Video for ISIS on YouTube) The Facebook page named in the lawsuit, Third Palestinian Intifada, was used as a recruiting tool for Hamas, according to the lawsuit.
The Intifada – or armed uprising against Israel – claimed the lives of four Americans, including 16-year-old Yaakov Fraenkel, who was killed after he was picked up by terrorists while hitching a ride back home in the West Bank.
Dan Gainor of Media Research Center says a fine line needs to be walked when addressing the use of social media for the cause of terrorism.
"I've seen some amazingly anti-Israel, anti-Semitic things on Facebook that don't get removed. That's a big concern," he admits. "I just don't want to go so far that it becomes a censorship battle."
But should Facebook or YouTube decide the Hamas terror group is using "hate speech," might they think that also of Christian churches that preach a biblical view of sexuality?
"The problem when you get government involved [is that] almost universally, free speech and freedom loses," Gainor adds.
The Hamas page has been taken down, but even today there are scores of others – using the same name – which have risen it its place.