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<\/p>\nFACEBOOK has finally freed the #SaltBae hashtag after a clip of a top Vietnamese Communist Party official being fed gold-covered steak sparked fury.<\/p>\n
The social media giant's parent company, Meta, announced it had unblocked the hashtag – but declined to say whether Vietnam forced them to remove it.<\/p>\n
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The country's Minister of Public Security, To Lam, 64, was filmed scoffing a \u00a31,450 tomahawk steak\u00a0at Nusret G\u00f6k\u00e7e's new restaurant in Knightsbridge.<\/p>\n
Salt Bae posted the video on his TikTok account of him serving the high-profile party their expensive nosh before placing a slice of steak in the official's mouth.<\/p>\n
But the video was hastily removed by the celebrity chef, while other versions were also taken down from the app for violating "community standards", Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
"We've unblocked this hashtag on Facebook and we're investigating why this happened," a spokesperson for Facebook operator Meta said.<\/p>\n
They confirmed the tag had been blocked for Facebook users worldwide, not just in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear why the video led to the hashtag being blocked as the spokesperson refused to comment on potential reasons.<\/p>\n
While it was censored, a search for the hashtag generated a message saying community standards had been violated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this year in a U.S. Congress hearing, Mark Zuckerberg said artificial intelligence plays a major role in "content moderation", responsible for taking down more than 90% of content deemed to be against Facebook guidelines.<\/p>\n
However, the footage of Lam indulging himself on some of London's finest steak had outraged some users on social media.<\/p>\n
The 64-year-old – in charge of his nation's police force and anti-corruption task forces – was in the UK alongside other Vietnamese officials after attending COP26 in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
His feast caused a stir in Vietnam as people questioned how such an authoritative figure was willing to be recorded scoffing such an expensive meal in the midst of a state crackdown on corruption.<\/p>\n
One infuriated Vietnamese Facebook user with almost 150,000 followers changed his profile picture to a screenshot of the video and called out local media for their lack of coverage of the incident.<\/p>\n
He wrote in a post: "Security officers following this account, have you seen the video of minister To Lam eating salt-sprayed beef? <\/p>\n
Do you know how many months salary you'd have to spend for just one piece of that steak?<\/p>\n
"Do you know how many months salary you'd have to spend for just one piece of that steak?"<\/p>\n
The clip went viral in Vietnam, where most people earn just \u00a3112 a month on average.<\/p>\n
Others also called out the Communist leaders for eating the decadent steak after attending a climate conference – with one branding it "the height of revolting indifference."<\/p>\n
Another added: "Millions of people are suffering from Covid. No words."<\/p>\n
Lam appeared to be lapping up Salt Bae's theatrical serving approach as he sits alongside Vietnamese ministry spokesman To An Xo.<\/p>\n
He even gives Salt Bae a thumbs up of approval after gobbling down the steak.<\/p>\n
The country routinely requests that social media companies censor online content that it considers too be "anti-state".<\/p>\n
Vietnam threatened to get rid of Facebook last year if the platform did not remove more local political content.<\/p>\n
Salt Bae is also abandoning ship in wake of the hashtag scandal – as he leaves his flagship London restaurant to open up another in Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n
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