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Following are excerpts from an LBC TV report on the ban of Al-Manar TV from social media networks and apps stores. The report aired on August 15, 2012.
Reporter: It is a non-violent war. Its latest chapter is Apple's and Google's removal of Al-Manar TV apps. It began, however, in late July, with a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute on the intensive use made by Hizbullah of social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and mobile apps.
The institute demanded that this use be terminated, claiming that it runs counter to US laws, which prohibit any company on its soil from having dealings with an organization on the terror list.
The apps were removed, and then Facebook began to remove all pages associated with Hizbullah and with its media outlets. The Hizbullah and Al-Manar TV pages disappeared from Facebook. In recent days, Al-Manar TV has tried to create new pages using pseudonyms, but Facebook is no stranger to such attempts, and would remove every page opened under the name of Hizbullah or of its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, issuing a warning to the initiators of these efforts, stating that their pages promoted terrorism and hatred.
Twitter refuses to close down Al-Manar TV's account on the grounds that its website defends freedom of expression, while Youtube is somewhat undecided. It has not closed down Al-Manar TV's account, but at the same time, it does not hesitate to remove any video-clip that it believes promotes terrorism.
The war has begun. How will Hizbullah respond to this electronic onslaught, which aims to ban it from the world of social media?
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