Facebook has agreed to censor within Turkey images of Islam's prophet, Muhammad, that are considered to be insulting to the faithful as demanded by an Ankara court, according to
Al Jazeera.
Facebook routinely blocks content within a country if the material breaks local law, according to the
BBC.
The move comes not long after Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg posted a statement pledging to make Facebook a "service where you can speak freely without fear of violence," according to
The Washington Post's technology blogger, Caitlin Dewey.
In the aftermath of the Jan. 7 terrorist attacks on the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, Zuckerberg posted: "A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Mohammed that offended him. We stood up for this because different voices — even if they're sometimes offensive — can make the world a better and more interesting place."
Zuckerberg wrote, "We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world."
Adhering to local law, Facebook has blocked critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin in that country. The site reportedly also took down pages in Syria that criticized the Assad regime, and pro-Tibet content in China at the request of Beijing, according to the Post.
The governments that most frequently call on Facebook to censor content are India, Turkey, and Pakistan. Turkish
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who marched in Paris at a mass rally against terrorism, later denounced "insults to our prophet" at an anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstration back home, Al Jazeera reported.
The Islamic government in Ankara has also
censored YouTube, Twitter, and Turkish newspapers saying it was guarding Muslim sensibilities.
Facebook has little choice but to comply with local law. "Still, there's something a bit grating about the decision, coming so very soon after Zuckerberg's rosy-eyed epistle on free speech," wrote Dewey.
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