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Meta released a statement on Tuesday this week saying it will start removing posts that label Jews “Zionists” and target them for malicious purposes.
This latest update to Meta’s policy regarding the use of the word “Zionist” comes as the company, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, tries to reach a balance between guarding the right to free speech, and preventing hateful attacks on Jews. The company’s blog post stated as follows: “We will now remove content that targets ‘Zionists’ with dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence on the basis that ‘Zionist’ in those instances often appears to be a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people.”
According to Techxplore, this new change builds on Meta’s approach of treating the word as “hate speech” when it is used either along with antisemitic imagery or when it clearly references the Jewish population.
Meta further stated it would remove any content attacking “Zionists” when it is connected to antisemitic stereotypes (for example, any claims that Jewish people run the world or control the media) rather than when it is being tied to that political movement. This follows Meta’s actions earlier this month, when it said it is modifying its hate speech policy to take a more nuanced approach when it comes to determining whether the use of the Arabic word “shaheed” (commonly translated as “martyr”) is hate speech.
