Muxlim.com got 1 million users in 1 year but has content hostile to Jews.
By ABE SELIGmuxlim logo 224.88(photo credit: Screenshot)
As Islam continues to expand globally, surpassing Roman Catholicism as the world's fastest-growing religion, a social media Web site for Muslims - Muxlim.com - is hoping to compete with the popular online networking sites Myspace and Facebook.
But a quick browsing of Muxlim.com revealed user profiles fraught with angry messages and outright vulgarity in reference to Jews, Israel, and other non-Muslims.
Muxlim.com, which was launched in 2006 by two Scandinavian-based entrepreneurs, pushed forward the objective of creating the most popular Muslim social media Web site in the world. Within a year it attracted more than a million users from 190 countries across the globe.
Muxlim.com has been recognized as one of Europe's best tech start-ups by Red Herring, an American business technology journal.
"The recognition of Muxlim.com as one of Europe's most innovative and successful companies is a great honor for both the company and the Muslim community," said Muxlim.com founder and CEO Muhammad el-Fatatry. "Our objective was to create an online environment where Muslims and non-Muslims can enjoy social media in a safe and friendly atmosphere."
A press release calling attention to Muxlim.com's achievements mentioned the growth of Internet use as a concern for parents and a possible danger for kids. "A recent survey by the UK's London School of Economics (LSE), entitled 'EU Kids Online,' discovered that more than 60 percent of British children have been accidentally exposed to adult material online," read the press release. "The figure for American children was also significant, at 42%."
"We know that a huge number of Internet users, in particular parents, want access to an online experience that does not expose people to vulgarity, offensive content, and adult material," Fatatry said. "
At the same time it's vital that social media is engaging, user-friendly and fun. Muxlim.com achieves all this, and we have attracted a vibrant and friendly community with a welcoming demeanor and a sense of humor."
Despite such comments by its creators, Muxlim.com includes content that is far from friendly and welcoming, especially to Israelis and Jews.
One page, a profile in the name of ex-Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in 2004, provides an extensive biography on the life and death of a man whom the Chicago Tribune once quoted as saying, "We will kill Jews everywhere."
The biography on Muxlim.com features a paragraph entitled "Why was he assassinated?" The first sentence reads, "The same question was answered when the Jews (the descendents of apes and swine) assassinated sheikh Ahmad Yassin."
Yassin, the leader of Hamas prior Rantisi, was also killed in an Israeli air strike in 2004 during an onslaught of Hamas-executed suicide bombings across Israel at that time. Yassin, too, has a featured profile on Muxlim.com, in which viewers can read some of his famous statements, including, "We will wait and see how many Israelis will cry," in reference to Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians during the second Intifada.
Other profiles are more subtle. One user on the site goes by the name "jewsdidwtc", an apparent inference that Jews are responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
Another user, "sister_harb", who identifies herself as a 41-year-old posting from Finland, features a profile picture of the Palestinian flag with the shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith, superimposed across it. Her "likes" include, "Palestine, walking in the forest after the rain, and several other beautiful things in life." When the viewer scrolls down, her profiles reveals hyperlinks to the following topics: "Hamas Song, Hamas's Victory in Gaza June 2007, and the Battle of the Lions - Izzadin A-Qassam Brigades," among other things.
Asked to respond to these postings, Fatatry told The Jerusalem Post that "As a social media Web site hosting millions of pages of user-generated content, [Muxlim.com] must abide by the laws of Finland and the EU with regards to content submitted by users. This simply means that we can only take down content in response to a report made by a user. If we decide to remove content without such a report, we would be automatically considered an editorial Web site, which is not compatible with our vision and message as a company."
However, in addition to being a place for Muslims to meet and discuss pertinent issues online, the site's stated goals include promises to refrain from publishing offensive and adult content. It is unclear, however, if "offensive material" means material offensive to the Muslim community, or the much wider base of Internet users worldwide.
"We do not condone any form of racism, or any offensive references to the Jewish people," Fatatry continued, "Any reports we receive regarding such content will be taken very seriously, and will be treated like all other reports we receive on the site." Fatatry said that the Post's queries had brought the postings in question to his attention for the first time.
Fatatry continued to say that his group would not like to see the Web site become a hotbed for hostility, but rather a contributing factor towards peace.
