“Zionism proxy for Jews” being removed by Meta
Meta platforms have announced a landmark decision, treating the word “Zionist” as a proxy for Jews and removing antisemitic hate speech from the platforms when Zionist is used merely as a disguise for antisemitism.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder stated, “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.”
“We appreciate that Meta has truly listened to the voices of Jewish communities that we work with. This policy change will help create a safer, more respectful online environment for everyone. I hope all other platforms will follow Meta’s leadership and take similar action,” added Lauder.
Meta’s decision to ban the use of the term “Zionist” as a slur for Jews is an “important step” in curbing rampant Jew-hatred online, U.S. antisemitism envoy U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism (SEAS) Ambassador Deborah E. Lipstadt said on Tuesday.
“Meta’s announcement to expand their global policy to now monitor content that targets ‘Zionists,’ when the term is used as a proxy for Jews or Israelis rather than those who support the political movement, is an important step in mitigating the rampant spread of online antisemitism,” tweeted Lipstadt.
“It also recognizes the alarming, widespread use of ‘Zionists’ as a cover for expressing hatred of Jews in general. Dialogue between governments, the private sector, and civil society is crucial in turning the tide of rising hate, and we are proud to have had Meta and other social media companies around the table at the Symposium for Countering Online Antisemitism that my office convened earlier last month,” she added.
Meta’s Policy Forum’s update states that “Going forward, we will remove content attacking ‘Zionists’ when it is not explicitly about the political movement, but instead uses antisemitic stereotypes, or threatens other types of harm through intimidation, or violence directed against Jews or Israelis under the guise of attacking Zionists, including 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, and mocking for having a disease.”
Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Israeli government’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, also praised the decision, tweeting on Tuesday that “after years of discussion,” Meta’s hate speech policies will now be applied equally to Zionists.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement said on Tuesday that Meta’s move was a step forward in ending “immunity and impunity” for online antisemites.
“We applaud this decision taken by Meta’s Policy Forum and the understanding that appropriating the term ‘Zionists’ to hide blatant Jew-hatred has no place on their platforms,” CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa said of the move by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
“For too long, antisemites have been allowed their incitement and Jew hatred by merely changing keywords like Zionists and Zionism, which is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people in its indigenous and ancestral homeland,” he added. “Meta’s decision is welcome because it recognizes this and draws a heavy red line against it.”
CyberWell, an Israel-based NGO focused on countering online hatred, said it “intends to leverage its technological tools and analysis efforts to ensure this policy is implemented efficiently and fully, and that Meta’s moderation tools are trained to effectively bar this content.”
Oct. 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,” said CyberWell founder and director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.
“The use of the term ‘Zionist’ to spread antisemitic vitriol while avoiding detection has been used by radicals on the far left and extremists on the far right. Today, Meta has spoken through thoughtful action,” she added. “By acknowledging the phobic nature of when abuse of the term ‘Zionist’ is meant to spread bigotry and fear, they are actively protecting a targeted minority group of users on their platform that are currently experiencing the worst wave of targeted hate since the Holocaust.”
Three months ago, the Combat Antisemitism Movement condemned Meta’s Oversight Board’s recommendation to end its ban on the use of the Arabic word shaheed, or “martyr,” after a year-long review.
“Shaheed is an honorific term for murderers. The recommendation by Meta’s Oversight Board could be seen as giving a green light for the glorification of murder,” said Roytman Dratwa in a statement. “This term is used to honor those who murder, maim and terrorize people around the world, from Osama bin Laden to the Hamas perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre, and allowing its usage sends entirely the wrong signal.”
For years, anti-Israel groups have argued that Meta unjustly suppresses Palestinian content under campaigns such as “Meta, Let Palestine Speak.” A key organizer is the terror-linked 7amleh – Arab Centre for Social Media Advancement, which has hosted the oversight board and has been featured at Oversight Board events.
Antisemites have long employed the term ‘Zionist’ to hide their true hateful intentions, claiming their attacks were politically motivated against an ideology rather than targeting Jewish values and beliefs. Meta’s new policy will help unmask this hatred that has targeted the global Jewish community, ensuring that such rhetoric is identified and rightly treated as antisemitism.
The amendments to Meta’s policy mean that posts with the term ‘Zionist’ will be removed when they are found to:
· Invoke harmful antisemitic stereotypes, such as Jewish control of institutions.
· Dehumanize Jewish people.
· Call for harm towards Jews.
· Deny the existence of Zionists.
The work that led to the Meta policy decision aligns with the WJC’s continuous efforts to combat online hate and discrimination. Recently, the WJC launched the Institute for Technology and Human Rights, a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing online antisemitism and its real-world consequences.
Yfat Barak-Cheney, WJC’s Director of Technology and Human Rights and the inaugural director of the new institute, emphasized the importance of continued collaboration with tech platforms to fight online hate. “Through our work with Jewish communities and tech platforms, WJC has made considerable progress in the global effort to keep antisemitism and hate speech
from spreading on the internet. Meta’s policy change – the product of years of engagement with WJC – is a significant milestone in this ongoing effort particularly as hate speech targeting Jews has risen in the wake of the October 7 attacks.”
“The WJC looks forward to continuing its collaboration with Meta and other technology companies to develop policies that combat online hate and protect vulnerable communities. We will work together to ensure that this change is enforced on all Meta platforms,” added Barak-Cheney.
The World Jewish Congress will issue a groundbreaking report next week in Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the commemorative events marking 30 years since the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center, showing how Islamist terror groups now use alternative online communication channels to amplify their deadly messages and how the expression of anti-Zionist sentiments drives anti-Jewish hatred and calls for violence.
According to the report, titled, “From Digital Hate to Real-World Bloodshed: The Interaction Between Online Extremism, Antisemitism and Offline Violence,” traditional online platforms have become more restrictive since the October 7 attack on Israel, deplatforming or limiting access to those affiliated with such groups as Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), but terrorist organizations have found ways to spread hatred and calls for violence through other channels and civil society organizations.
Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told J-Wire: “We commend Meta for its latest policy change, which recognises that the term ‘Zionists’ is often used as a proxy for ‘Jews’ to convey antisemitic hate speech. This landmark decision has been advocated for some years by Jewish community organisations worldwide, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
One of the most pernicious myths propagated by anti-Jewish groups in Australia is that the charge of antisemitism is used to suppress all criticism of Israel. Robust debate about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is to be welcomed, but a line is crossed if that debate is used as an excuse to vilify, dehumanise or deny the right of national self-determination of either of the two peoples.
Meta’s new policy recognises this principle, and has set a standard for other platform providers to follow.”
Juliet Moses, president of the New Zealand Jwish Council, told J-Wire: “We welcome the updated policy from Meta that recognises the reality that “Zionist” is often and increasingly used as a substitute for “Jew” in inciting violence, indulging in dehumanisation and trafficking in antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories. We think the policy attempts to strike a good balance between curbing such hateful, dangerous language and fostering free speech (including criticism of Israel), and affording Jews the same protections and understandings as other minorities.”
