[Boveosteors]

Apr 19, 2010

Facebook deletes Osama account

NEW YORK - FACEBOOK said on Sunday it had disabled an account on the social networking site under the name of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, which posted extremist Islamic content and had garnered over 1,000 'fans.' 'People often attempt to register fake accounts under the name of famous or infamous people and we have a number of technical measures designed to prevent this behaviour,' Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told AFP in an email.

'Sometimes these fakes do get through but there is no evidence to suggest that the account in question or the other dozens of people who have tried to present themselves as Osama Bin Laden have any relation to the terrorist,' he said.

The account, which was disabled on Friday, had posted speeches and audio recordings of Islamic extremists, which were produced by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Sahab Media Group, ABC News reported. The page referred to Bin Laden as the 'Prince of Mujahideen' and put in his location as the 'mountains of the world,' ABC said, quoting Arabic language news site Elaph. -- AFP