Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday evening with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to express his discontent over the giant tech’s alleged bias against Likud Party voters in previous elections, according to Israeli media reports.
The Haaretz daily cited sources familiar with the details of the conversation as saying that Netanyahu called Zuckerberg to ask that he “ensure the fairness of the election, and act reasonably and fairly.”
Facebook’s founder reportedly did not directly address Netanyahu’s claims, though said the company would be alert to the matter.
“We constantly speak to leaders all around the world, and Mark reiterated that we are an open platform for all ideas,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Ahead of Israel’s Sept. 17 election, Facebook temporarily suspended a chatbot operated by Netanyahu’s official account, after it allegedly published posts against the Israeli judiciary and Arab sector. The chatbot was suspended a second time, this time on election day, for publishing polling information in violation of Israeli election law.
According to i24News, in the last few months, figures in the Israeli right have argued that Facebook customarily blocks more accounts of people identified with the right than with the left.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
