A post from Fatah’s Facebook page shows children holding rifles. Israel is drafting legislation that could force social media platforms to remove online postings that incite terrorism. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.

JNS.org – Israeli lawmakers are drafting legislation that could force Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media platforms to remove online postings that incite terrorism.

“There should be some measure of accountability for Internet companies regarding the illegal activities and content that is published through their services,” Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said this week at the 6th Annual International Cybersecurity Conference in Tel Aviv.

Shaked said that Internet companies and state governments need to find ways to cooperate so that malicious and criminal content can be quickly taken down. Israel could use a judicial injunction to have the content removed.

“The Justice Ministry is taking a leadership role in this—for example, we are promoting cooperation with content providers, sensitizing them as to content that violates Israeli law or providers’ term of service,” said Shaked.

The Justice Ministry, Shaked noted, last year set up a cybercrime and cyberterrorism department specifically to deal with child pornography and terrorism.