(San Francisco) Meta will now remove posts that include the term “Zionist” when it refers to Jewish or Israeli individuals and contains dehumanizing rhetoric or anti-Semitic stereotypes, as the conflict in Gaza fuels hate speech, including anti-Semitism, online.
“We will now remove posts targeting ‘Zionists’ in several areas where our investigation has shown the term tends to be used to refer to Jews and Israelis, with dehumanizing comparisons, calls to harm, or denials of existence,” the California-based group said in a statement Tuesday.
The social media giant had launched a reflection on the moderation of this term on its platforms five months ago, “given the growing polarization of public discourse due to events in the Middle East.”
With the help of many experts (historians, lawyers, associations, etc.), Meta wanted to determine in particular whether the term refers to the supporters of a political movement or the Jewish or Israeli people, because its rules authorize general attacks against party members, but not against groups of people defined by their nationality or religion.
“There is no global consensus on what people mean when they use the term ‘Zionist,'” Meta concluded.
But “based on our research and investigations across platforms regarding its use to refer to Jewish people and Israelis in connection with certain types of hateful attacks, we will now remove content that targets ‘Zionists'” with hate speech.
Examples include “claims that they rule the world or control the media,” “dehumanizing comparisons, such as comparisons to pigs, dirt or vermin,” and “calls for physical violence.”
Until now, its moderators only removed messages comparing Zionists to rats or when Jews or Israelis were clearly targeted.
Meta has also recently relaxed its rules on the Arabic term “shaheed”, commonly translated as “martyr”, and until now banned from its networks because it is considered an incitement to hatred.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, has sparked numerous Islamophobic and anti-Semitic attacks on social media.
Amnesty International, however, called on Meta in February not to “ban criticism of ‘Zionism’ or ‘Zionists’ in general” so as not to “stifle voices speaking out against the Israeli government’s systematic violations of Palestinian rights.”