Facebook Inserting Itself into Middle East Conflict?
March 18, 2008
By Ben
Since the state of Israel was established in 1948, the country’s borders have been constantly changing with every war and peace agreement. The West Bank and Gaza strip have been particularly sensitive areas, with a lot of fighting and uncertainty.
However, in Facebook’s attempt to assign a network to the people living in the West Bank, it automatically assigned them to the Palestine network – a pretty bold move.
As one could imagine, pinpointing an entire region as Palestine did not sit very well. Every person in Israel defines themselves differently depending on their background, family, and religion. To label an entire region of people with such different backgrounds and identities seems to go way beyond Facebook’s goal of being a “social utility that connects you with the people around you.”
David Shamah, a reporter for the Jerusalem Post writes, “I think it’s very unfair of Facebook to take sides in an ongoing dispute by making official (the creation of a state called Palestine), something that the United Nations has not even decided on yet.”
After receiving a lot of complaints and being accused of having a political agenda, Facebook has now started to allow people living in these areas to chose whether they’re listed as being a resident of Israel or Palestine.
Entry Filed under: Digital media relations, Social Commerce, Uncategorized. Tags: Facebook, politics, social network.
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1.
originalthinker | March 18, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Funny and yet not at the same time. Amazing how with just a few clicks on the computer we can rearrange the world the way we want it to be.
2.
Dawn Clemons | June 21, 2008 at 2:28 am
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Grace Montessori School
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3.
Ur brain | December 31, 2008 at 10:52 am
Good on facebook for not taking sides …unlike uneducated twats like….’an israeli state’? excuse me… and
‘David Shamah, a reporter for the Jerusalem Post writes, “I think it’s very unfair of Facebook to take sides in an ongoing dispute by making official (the creation of a state called Palestine), something that the United Nations has not even decided on yet.”’
There was Palestine before Israel, we dont need again uneducated twats, stupid men in business suits to tell us what our land is,whether it is a state or not…
Not taking sides on anything u urself step out of the picture and look logically at it, ppl of Israel are movers and settlers, they happened to choose THE COUNTRY PALESTINE and have forced their settlement there for too long…think about it…get ur head out of the clouds…
whether its a state of not hahahaha u people make me sick
4.
Steven | January 25, 2009 at 8:16 pm
No such country as Palestine in history, this is basic fact.
The British Mandate named Palestine was not a country.
5.
illegal kid incest | July 24, 2009 at 6:42 am
emm. really like it