Meta revises hate speech rules to address sketchy use of the term “Zionist”

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, announced it will begin removing more posts that use the term “Zionists” to target Jewish people and Israelis, rather than referring to supporters of the political movement.

The quote above is from Meta’s latest update that tackles the issue. Meta says it has revisited the issue of speech using the term “Zionists” at various times in recent years, and in March 2024 “we examined it through our Policy Forum”.

In this Forum, external experts were consulted to gain a better understanding of how the term “Zionist” is used and in what contexts it may serve as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people on the platforms.

A total of 145 stakeholders from civil society and academia across the Middle East and Africa, Israel, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia were consulted. These stakeholders included political scientists, historians, legal scholars, digital and civil rights groups, freedom of expression advocates, and human rights experts.

Meta admits that “there is nothing approaching a global consensus on what people mean when they use the term Zionist”, but their own investigations have shown that it is sometimes used as a proxy term for Jewish people and Israelis in certain hateful attacks. Consequently, Meta will now remove content that targets “Zionists” with dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence, recognizing that in such cases, “Zionist” often serves as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people.

Content attacking individuals based on protected characteristics such as nationality, race, or religion is not allowed. However, criticism of political affiliations and ideologies is permitted. For instance, a post saying, “People of ‘X religion’ are stupid”, would be removed, but “Supporters of ‘X political movement’ are stupid”, would be allowed.Sometimes, criticisms use terms that, while not explicitly referencing protected characteristics, are commonly understood to do so by proxy. In such cases, these proxy terms are treated as if they explicitly refer to the protected characteristic.

Moving forward, content that attacks “Zionists” will be removed when it is not explicitly about the political movement but instead employs antisemitic stereotypes, or threatens harm through intimidation or violence against Jews or Israelis under the pretext of attacking Zionists. This includes:

• Claims about running the world or controlling the media;
• Dehumanizing comparisons, such as comparisons to pigs, filth, or vermin;
• Calls for physical harm;
• Denials of existence;
• Mocking for having a disease.

“As has long been the case, repeat violations of our Community Standards may result in suspension or removal of the account posting the violations”, Meta’s update says.As has long been the case, repeat violations of our Community Standards may result in suspension or removal of the account posting the violations.