WORLD_ SYRIA_ Facebook pressured to refuse access to Assad campaign in Syria election

Facebook pressured to refuse access to Assad campaign in Syria election

• Sawa page attracts 200,000 likes as Facebook 'terminates' ads
• Syria Campaign says president 'should be beyond the pale' Share 254 inShare4 Email Dominic Rushe and

Raya Jalabi in New York
theguardian.com, Monday 2 June 2014 22.35 AEST

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A woman walks past election posters for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Photograph: Khaled al-Hariri/Reuters

Human-rights activists have called on Facebook to refuse access to its services to the political campaign of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, ahead of tomorrow's election in the country.

The Syria Campaign on Monday launched an online petition, calling on the social-media giant to cut off Assad’s Sawa (meaning “together” in Arabic) campaign.

The Sawa Facebook site, launched on 10 May, has so far attracted more than 200,000 “likes”. Advertisements for the Sawa campaign briefly appeared alongside some people’s Facebook pages, depending on their likes and interests; according to the activists, such ads have appeared alongside the pages of Syrians who stand against the Assad regime.

“Assad has been widely accused of war crimes,” said John Jackson of the Syria Campaign. “He’s using starvation as a weapon of war against his own people. He’s dropping barrel bombs on schools and residential districts, throwing out shrapnel against civilians. He has done things that most human-rights organisations have categorised as serious crimes.

“The fact that Facebook is allowing Assad to use its services for his campaign should be beyond the pale.”

Facebook said the ads had been placed from outside Syria and had been taken down, as they contravened the company’s advertising policy.

"The ads you referenced are no longer on our platform. We terminated these ads. As always, we take down ads that violate our policies,” said a spokesperson.

“We comply with all relevant Syrian sanctions and do not permit ads originating from or targeting Syria.”

The spokesperson said Facebook was not currently considering dropping the Sawa site.

“With over a billion users around the world, Facebook permits freedom of expression and we want to make sure people feel comfortable coming to Facebook to discuss what’s important to them, while making sure we maintain a safe and respectful community,” he said.

“When people see something they find offensive in our community, our goal is to give them the tools they need to handle this situation.”

Syria’s national election is set to take place on 3 June, with Assad running against two relatively unknown candidates.

Syrian opposition activists fighting to topple the Assad regime have denounced the vote as a sham, as it is taking place during a bloody civil war, with an opposition unrepresented and unable to participate owing to a recently passed law barring those leading the revolt against the regime from competing, which will almost certainly result in Assad’s re-election for a third seven-year term.

The Assad family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.

“This is a sham election that will keep a regime in place that is widely known as perpetrating significant violence against its population,” said Jackson. “Perhaps there should be limits on free speech for a political party at the heart of a conflict that has caused over 150,000 deaths.”

Tributes to the 48-year-old leader can be found across public spaces in Damascus and other regime-controlled parts of Syria. Posters, banners and photographs can be seen, embellished with the Sawa slogan, heralding the historic election.

The re-election bid has also had a significant online presence, with dedicated Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages set up to dispense campaign-related news and encourage voter turnout. Polished campaign videos uploaded to YouTube have been viewed thousands of times.

One video, which has been viewed nearly 13,000 times, depicts hundreds of diverse citizens coming “together” to erect a Syrian flag atop an ancient castle and saluting, ending with the words “together, stronger”.

Secretary of state John Kerry has called the election a “farce”, and some countries have opposed the vote entirely. Such countries include Germany, France and the UAE, which have barred polling stations being set up in Syrian embassies.

Hundreds flocked to Syria’s embassy in neighbouring Lebanon to vote in support of the sitting president. On Thursday, a mortar shell hit a campaign tent packed with regime supporters, killing 39 people and wounding 205 others, according to Syrian state TV.

The Syrian conflict has seen nearly three million refugees flee to neighbouring countries, and has displaced more than 6.5 million people internally.


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