Facebook removed a video purporting immigrants were the primary cause for reported crime growth in the adjacent country of Austria, according to the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff.
The social media post, published by Janos Lazar, also alleged that the once-foreign newcomers were forcing “white Christians” to evacuate, Reuters reported Thursday. Lazar traveled to a neighborhood in Vienna, the capital of Austria, to try to show how bad conditions have gotten from Middle Eastern immigrants’ arrival, and locals’ departure.
“Disorder is much higher, there is much more dirt and litter in the streets and the few Viennese still living here say that crime is a lot higher and people are living in bigger fear,” Lazar said, accompanied by piano music and shots of Muslim immigrants, according to Reuters.
The top aide to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán originally protested the removal of the recording, equating it to censorship. He eventually praised Facebook for reinstating it.
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“Thank you, Facebook for the correct and quick action,” Lazar, who also oversees Hungary’s intelligence apparatus, wrote in a Facebook post.
Lazar and his entrenched beliefs, particularly the more xenophobic ones, have led to the ire of other international officials. The human rights chief for the United Nations recently called Lazar a racist.
Nevertheless, through the restoration, Facebook seems to regret censoring his content. The tech giant in general has had difficulty trying to balance urgent appeals to squash hate speech, racism, general vitriolic content, and terrorists’ exploitation on its platform with calls for maintaining a free expression ethos. (RELATED: Facebook Rejects Images Of Woman’s Bare Back, Just One Of Many Examples Of Apparent Censorship)
Facebook did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time of publication.
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