Against freedom of expression…Facebook deletes the page of Hibapress Newspaper.

Hibapress / Lakbir Hoummad

The Facebook page of « Hibapress » : facebook.com/hibapresscom/  (id : 760512830818804), newspaper  in Morocco was recently deleted by Facebook.

The management of “Hibapress” newspaper believes that the deletion decision of its Facebook page was one-sided and unjustified. Else, it was against the freedom of press and expression, conferred by the Moroccan Constitution and International Conventions.

The management of « Hibapress » further explains that the deletion decision of its page was the result of a systematic and widespread attack of false reports directed against « Hibapress » Newspaper page on Facebook by a company that is in charge of sponsoring and managing the social accounts of “Inwi”, one of the three major telecommunication companies in Morocco; the reasoning being that back on August 2nd, 2022, « Hibapress » published an article on the poor mobile network coverage in Moroccan coastal cities.

Since its establishment in 2008, « Hibapress » was observing the ethical code of journalism and the regulating Community Standards of Meta, says the management of « Hibapress ».

The management of « Hibapress » claimed that the management of Facebook office in the North Africa took the decision of deletion without the knowledge of the Central Management in the US. It further points that there are manipulations between Facebook North Africa and some partners with regards to deleting pages of some online newspapers on Facebook.

The management of the newspaper stated that granting broad competencies to Facebook’s partners, to protect their interests and that of the companies they are running, may harm the credibility of Facebook. The management further stated that those partners use dedicated malware to falsely report the pages of independent Moroccan online newspapers.

An official source revealed that the deletion decision, made by Facebook administration in North Africa, was also imposed on Badil’s online newspaper page, in addition to some pages of opponents of the Arabic regimes, although they have not violated the community standards of Facebook. This is evidence that there are serious infringements in Facebook Office in North Africa without the knowledge of the upper management in the US.

The management of « Hibapress » announced that it will take all the legal procedures to restore its page on Facebook, by filing complaints against « Meta » with the US Congress and the non-governmental organization, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders.

The management of « Hibapress also called on the upper management of Meta to open an impartial investigation into the issue of deleting the Facebook page of “Hibapress”, and to restore its page, subject of a widespread attack of false reports directed not only against “Hibapress”, but also against the freedom of press and expression and the International Conventions of human rights.