Tech giant Meta Platforms apologized Tuesday for removing social media posts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim about the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in which he expressed his condolences.
The apology came a day after Anwar's office summoned Meta representatives to seek an explanation on why the leader's Facebook and Instagram posts about Haniyeh's death had been removed.
Meta is the parent firm of the two popular social media platforms.
"We apologize for an operational error that resulted in the removal of content from the Prime Minister's Facebook and Instagram Pages," Meta said in a statement emailed to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label."
The political leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas was killed in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday in an attack blamed on Israel.
Anwar's posts included a video showing the premier on a phone call with a Hamas official, offering his condolences.
On Instagram, Meta shared a note by Anwar stating that the posts were taken down because they were associated with "dangerous individuals and organizations."
The U.S. social media giant designates Hamas as a "dangerous organization" and bans content praising the group. It uses a mix of automated detection and human review to remove or label graphic visuals.
Anwar's office had described Meta's removal of the posts as "a blatant suppression of free expression" and demanded an apology from the tech behemoth.
Last week, Anwar accused the tech giant of "cowardice" for removing his posts.
Israel, the United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
It was the second run-in Meta had with the Malaysian government, which called the takedown of the posts unjust, discriminatory and a suppression of free speech. Malaysia's communications minister and members of the Prime Minister's Office met Meta representatives on Monday to seek an explanation.
In a similar incident in May, Meta restored Facebook posts by Anwar over his meeting with Haniyeh, saying they were taken down in error.
Muslim-majority Malaysia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has warned that firm action could be taken against Meta and other social media companies if they blocked pro-Palestinian content on their platforms.
