Pakistan’s Khan to Facebook: Ban Islamophobic Content

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has appealed to the social media giant Facebook to ban material that is Islamophobic. “I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” Khan said in a letter he then posted on Twitter. “One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others.” The letter follows Khan’s accusation on Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron had “attacked Islam” by promoting the display of the Prophet Mohammad in cartoons.” Macron has been particularly vocal in condemning the beheading of a French school teacher by an Islamic radical who was enraged that the teacher had shown cartoons of the prophet as part of a lesson on free speech. Macron has been coming under increasing attack from throughout the Muslim world after saying France would crack down on radical Islam following the beheading. Stores in Kuwait and elsewhere are boycotting French products, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday urged Macron to “have his head examined.” In response, France has recalled its ambassador from Ankara.