ISLAMABAD: Pakistan鈥檚 Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday, in an impassioned appeal to ban the vilification of Islam and Muslims on the social media platform, akin to the Facebook ban on posts that deny the Holocaust, according to a press release.
Earlier on Sunday, Khan had denounced French President Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 鈥榚ncouragement of Islamophobia鈥� in a series of tweets, and said Macron was 鈥榙eliberately provoking鈥� Muslims.
Khan鈥檚 denouncement came in the wake of comments from the French leader last week in which he vowed not to 鈥榞ive up cartoons鈥� depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and stated 鈥業slamists want our future.鈥�
鈥淚 appreciate your taking the step to rightly ban any posting that criticizes or questions the Holocaust,鈥� Khan wrote to Zuckerberg, his message peppered with examples of recent anti-Muslim laws and statements from the Indian and French governments.
鈥淕iven the rampant abuse and vilification of Muslims on social media platforms, 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.鈥�

On Oct 12., a message from the Vice President of Facebook鈥檚 content policy said the social media giant鈥檚 hate speech policy had been updated to ban any denials or distortions of the Holocaust-- the mass Nazi pogrom of the Jews of Germany and Europe.
鈥淲e have banned more than 250 white supremacist organizations and updated our policies to address militia groups and QAnon. We also routinely ban other individuals and organizations globally, and we took down 22.5 million pieces of hate speech from our platform in the second quarter of this year,鈥� the VP鈥檚 message reads on Facebook鈥檚 official website.
Facebook鈥檚 rules on hate speech, defined as any 鈥渄irect attack on people鈥� based on characteristics like religion or sexuality, already prohibit Islamophobic content.
鈥淭he message of hate must be banned in total-- one cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, they are acceptable against others,鈥� Khan wrote.
鈥淲e have seen how marginalization inevitably leads to extremism-- something the world does not need.鈥�