German diplomats get new social media guidance after anti-Israel tweets ‘liked’

Germany’s foreign ministry says it has instituted new social media guidelines and disciplined personnel after anti-Israel tweets were “liked” by the official Twitter account of the German mission to the Palestinian territories.

The foreign ministry said 10 people had access to the @GerRepRamallah account and it was not clear who clicked the “likes”.

The ministry said the account was not secured against unauthorised users.

It said the head of Germany’s office in Ramallah, Christian Clages, and others were disciplined.

The social media guidance sent to all diplomatic posts clarifies “that even ‘likes’ are understood as expressions of opinion of the German government” and now require the approval of two people.

The ministry says it “publicly made it clear the contents of the tweets concerned are unacceptable, contradict the attitude of the German government, and are not tolerated”.