The ubiquitous social networking website, Facebook, has recently gotten some negative press. Users who live in the disputed West Bank were upset to discover that Facebook’s software (which can identify a user’s location by their town name or zip code) had listed them as living in Palestine. Towns in the West Bank, such as Hebron, Ariel, and Maale Adumim are either Israeli settlements or Palestinian territories, depending who you ask.
After several upset posts and comments from users, Facebook now gives West Bank-based users the ability to choose whether they would like to list “Israel” or “Palestine” as their location.
Whatever side you’re on, it’s clear that Facebook, despite what some of its more devoted users may think, cannot create world peace. Yet.