Facebook on Monday blocked a post and a Messenger chatbot from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s page that were soliciting the names and telephone numbers of individuals over 60 who have not received the coronavirus vaccine.
“Under our privacy policy we do not allow content that shares or asks for people’s medical information,” the social-media giant said. “We have removed the offending post and temporarily suspended the Messenger bot, which shared this content, for breaking these rules.”
“Both the video and bot messages violate our privacy policies and, by extension, our Developer Policies,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “We removed the post from the page and blocked the chatbot for 7 days.”
In response, the Likud said Netanyahu cares deeply about the vaccine awareness campaign and was merely trying to help and maybe convince some over-60 persons who were still vacillating to get vaccinated.
It was unclear if in addition to privacy concerns, Netanyahu might have also had some ulterior motive to use the information to try to drum up votes and support among the over-60 population, especially as former Mossad director Danny Yatom has started a new party that targets elderly voters.