Meta apologises for removing Malaysia PM posts on Haniyeh's assassination

Tech giant Meta has apologised for removing social media posts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim about the assassination of Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The apology came on Tuesday, a day after Anwar's office summoned Meta representatives to seek an explanation on why the leader's Facebook and Instagram posts about Haniyeh's death had been removed.

Meta is the parent firm of the two popular social media platforms.

"We apologise for an operational error where content from the Prime Minister's Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed," Meta said in a statement.

"The content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label."

'Suppression of free expression'

The political leader of Palestinian resistance group Hamas was killed in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday in an attack attributed to Israel.

Anwar's posts included a video showing the premier on a phone call with a Hamas official, offering his condolences.

On Instagram, there was a note by Meta, shared by Anwar, that the posts were taken down because of association with "dangerous individuals and organisations."

Anwar's office had described Meta's removal of the posts as "a blatant suppression of free expression" and demanded an apology from the tech behemoth.

Anwar last week accused the tech giant of "cowardice" for removing his posts.

Anwar, who met Haniyeh in Qatar in May, has defended Malaysia's ties with Hamas.