Facebook is doing its share to remove abusive content from the social network, it said on Sunday in an apparent rejection of Israeli allegations that it was uncooperative in stemming messages that might spur Palestinian violence.
Beset by a 10-month-old surge in Palestinian street attacks, Israel says that Facebook has been used to perpetuate such bloodshed and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist government is drafting legislation to enable it to order social media sites to remove postings deemed threatening.
Ramping up the pressure, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Saturday accused Facebook of "sabotaging" Israeli police efforts by not co-operating with inquiries about potential suspects in the occupied West Bank and by "set(ting) a very high bar for removing inciteful content and posts".
Facebook did not respond directly to Erdan's criticism, but said in a statement that it conferred closely with Israel.
"We work regularly with safety organisations and policymakers around the world, including Israel, to ensure that people know how to make safe use of Facebook. There is no room for content that promotes violence, direct threats, terrorist or hate speeches on our platform," the statement said.
It appeared to place an onus on Israeli authorities, as with any other users, to flag offensive content to Facebook monitors.
"We have a set of community standards designed to help people understand what's allowed on Facebook, and we call on people to use our report if they find content they believe violates these rules, so that we can examine each case and take quick action," the statement said.