FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE DELETING POPULAR EX-MUSLIM’S ARABIC MATERIAL CRITICIZING ISLAM

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

 Here is still more about how the social media giants are steadily 
choking off all material that looks at Islam with a critical eye. 
Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism are all fair game, but Islam 
is off limits, as our moral superiors move to impose Sharia blasphemy 
laws upon the West.

“My dilemma with Facebook and YouTube in Arabic,” Brother Rachid, September 18, 2017:

As a former Muslim hosting a live TV show for over a
decade, I’ve come to rely on social media platforms to connect with my
audience now more than ever before. My show, “DaringQuestions,” is
watched via satellite TV (through Alhayat TV) by millions of viewers
around the world (mainly in Arabic speaking communities). My show is
popular among Muslims because it is highly controversial. I raise many
bold questions about the Islamic faith and I expose the danger of some
Islamic doctrine. I also present testimonies of ex-Muslims who have left
Islam and allow them to share their experiences in order to empower
others and encourage them to do the same. To engage further with
audiences and the wider, global, Muslim community, these questions and
testimonies are also posted on my two main websites, “BrotherRachid.com”
and “IslamExplained.com,” as well as on social media platforms such as
Facebook and YouTube. However, Muslim governments impose restrictions
and heavy censorship and my websites are often inaccessible in many
Muslim countries due to material I present which uses critical thinking
to address Islamic doctrines. As a result, social media platforms are an
increasingly crucial way for me to reach out to the Muslim world and
surpass the censorship that Muslim countries place on the material I
present.

However, I face a dilemma that needs to be addressed and exposed to
the whole world. The Arabic content for giant social media platforms
like Facebook and YouTube is overseen predominantly by Muslims (since
the majority of those who speak Arabic are Muslims). These companies
have offices in the United Arab Emirates and give their Arabic speaking
staff the authority to delete and block any material that does not fit
their guidelines. However, this authority is abused when any channel or
page that criticizes Islam or presents opposing views to Islam is
blocked, deleted or removed. For example, my Facebook page (which has
over 1.5 million likes) was once deleted, while the Facebook page of
Alhayat – the channel that broadcasts my show – was also deleted without
any explanation, causing the channel to lose all the money they had
spent on advertising, among other damages. My YouTube channel (which has
also garnered millions of views) was once removed for ‘breaking
guidelines.’ Thank God, I appealed the removal and explained the details
to those in charge in the US and have since been able to gain my
channel back. My Facebook posts are removed on many occasions and I am
frequently blocked from posting because a post allegedly “does not
follow Facebook guidelines!” No further explanation is provided.
Sometimes, even my own picture is reported and removed because it
violates copyrights! Recently, I posted a cover of my book in French;
the post was removed for breaking “Facebook guidelines” and yet nobody
could explain to me how a book that is published legally and sold on
Amazon can break Facebook guidelines.

I think Facebook and Twitter need to revise how Arabic content is
handled – there is no balance here. Muslims criticize Christianity right
and left and their Facebook pages and YouTube channels face no problems
whatsoever, yet Christians, Atheists, and ex-Muslims as myself face
huge challenges in criticizing Islam on social media in Arabic. Our
pages are unfairly deleted, our posts are wrongfully removed, and our
accounts are blocked and removed. We had thought that social media was
about freedom of speech, but unfortunately it appears that Muslim
censorship is prevalent even on social media. We are unable to express
ourselves even on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

N.B: My show and my posts never promote hatred or violence against
Muslims; I always emphasize critiquing Islam as a doctrine but on loving
Muslims as all other human beings.