Meta to remove posts targeting 'Zionists' when aiming at Jews, Israelis

Meta will remove content targeting Zionists when used to refer to Jews and Israelis and not the political movement, the social media conglomerate’s Policy Forum announced on Tuesday.

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, will remove posts and comments about Zionists that use antisemitic stereotypes, threatens harm through intimidation, or violence against Jews or Israelis under the guise of attacking Zionists.

Examples of content violating community standards may include claims about Zionists controlling the world or media, dehumanizing comparisons to animals, and denial of existence.

Previously Meta had treated the use of the term “Zionist” as a hate speech violation more narrowly when context made it clear that Jews or Israelis were the target, or when antisemitic imagery was used.

“The word ‘Zionist’ has layers of meaning based on its origins and usage today, and may also be highly dependent on context,” said the forum. “This term often refers to supporters of a political movement, which is not itself a protected characteristic under our policies, but in some cases may be used as a proxy to refer to Jewish or Israeli people, which are protected characteristics under our Hate Speech policy.”

Meta Policy Forum said that it had consulted with 145 “political scientists, historians, legal scholars, digital and civil rights groups, freedom of expression advocates, and human rights experts” from around the world on the decision. It recognized that there was no consensus on the use of the term ‘Zionist,” but it found that it was often used as a proxy for hateful rhetoric.

Gray area around "Zionists are criminals"

One issue that Meta Policy Forum is still deliberating on is the comparison of Zionists to criminals. Facebook, Instagram, and Threads prohibit equivocation between groups with “protected characteristics” and criminality.

“We find that some criminal comparisons that refer to protected characteristics are using those characteristics as shorthand to refer to governments, soldiers, or other specific groups. Such speech is generally political rather than hateful,” said the forum.

In May, Meta removed a Thread post calling all Israelis criminals, and another Facebook post that called all Americans and Russians criminals. An Instagram comment that was removed described all Indians as rapists. Meta said that such cases caused significant disagreement between advisers and oversight board members.

Israeli NGO CyberWell, which submitted a data analysis on the use of the word “Zionist” as a means of avoiding antisemitism detection on social media, welcomed the decision on Thursday.

“While the online spread of antisemitism has been a growing issue over the course of the last decade, October. 7 and its aftermath brought a new alarming level of acute efforts using the digital space to spread hate against Jews, dehumanize Jewish individuals and communities, and to call for violence against them,” CyberWell Founder and Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said in a statement.

“As many platforms were caught in the lurch of the largest hijacking of social media platforms by a terrorist group and their apologists, these calls to violence and hatred, often featuring coded language like using the term ‘Zionists,’ were amplified by algorithms, ultimately supercharging the open hostility against Jews in online and offline spaces, targeting them across the globe.”

The World Jewish Congress, which said that it had corresponded with Meta on the issue, said that the company had listened to the concerns of Jewish communities.

“Meta’s decision is a much-needed advancement in our ongoing fight against online antisemitism and hatred. By recognizing and addressing the misuse of the term ‘Zionist,’ Meta is taking a bold stand against those who seek to mask their hatred of Jews,” WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement.

Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) also praised the decision in a Tuesday statement, saying it was an “important first step towards ending the immunity and impunity for anti-Semites online.”

“For too long, antisemites have been allowed their incitement and Jew hatred by merely changing key words like Zionists and Zionism, which is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people in its indigenous and ancestral homeland,” said CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa. “The Jewish People’s enemies have not only appropriated Jewish indigenous terminology, but they have also used it as a weapon against us. Meta’s decision is welcome because it recognizes this and draws a heavy red line against it.”