Meta against anti-Semitic misuse of the term Zionism
Anti-Semites misuse the term Zionist as a cover word for Jew or Israeli. Meta no longer wants to tolerate this, but wants to leave criticism of Zionism at that.
Flag of the State of Israel
(Image: Katarzyna Hurova/Shutterstock.com)
The claim "Christians are stupid" would be banned on Facebook. "Monarchists are stupid", on the other hand, would be permitted. The rules against hate speech only prohibit hate speech regarding certain criteria; belonging to a certain religion is one of them, belonging to a political ideology is not. Anti-Semites make use of this distinction: They package anti-Jewish hate speech in the actually political term Zionism. Zionist" quickly becomes a cover word for "Jew" or "Israeli". Now Facebook operator Meta Platforms is trying to respond.
From now on, attacks on "Zionists" will be deleted if they do not explicitly refer to supporters of the political movement of Zionism, but use anti-Semitic stereotypes or contain threats. This was announced by the data company on Tuesday. In particular, dehumanizing comparisons with vermin or filth, calls for bodily harm or murder, laughing at the seriously ill, denying existence or the lie that "Zionists" rule the world or control the media world are covered.
Zionism can be divided into different directions, such as cultural and political Zionism. The former strives for Jewish settlement in geographical Palestine, the latter for an independent Jewish state or its preservation, but not necessarily in the area in question. Such aspirations have existed since the destruction of the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the expulsion of most Jews in the sixth century BC.
The spread of the term "Zionism" is attributed to the Viennese Nathan Birnbaum, who used the term from 1890 at the latest. The word is derived from Zion, once a tower castle on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, today a synonym for the Temple Mount, the city and the state of Israel. For devout Jews, Zion also means the dwelling place of God.
Meta has been dealing with the difficult demarcation for some time, and this year discussed the topic with 145 interest groups from different continents. Since language is rarely precise, the new regulation also leaves questions unanswered in detail. For example, it can be unclear whether "the Zionists" in an online posting means the government or military of the State of Israel, or really all Zionists, or actually all Jews (just as "the Russians", "the Americans" or "the Germans" often stand for the country's state leadership or armed forces, not necessarily for all citizens per se).
Oversight Board to provide advice
Of course, this problem is not limited to "Zionists". Metas Management has submitted three relevant cases to its Oversight Board. In one case, the platform Thread was used in connection with the accusation of genocide to imply that "all Israelis" are criminals. In the second case, the accusation of criminality was made against "Americans" and "Russians" on Facebook. The third case came from Instagram, where someone posted: "All Indians are rapists."
The decisions of the Oversight Board are still pending. This independent complaints council reviews selected disputes between the Group and its users, but also advises on problems submitted by the management itself. However, Meta does not always follow the recommendations of the Oversight Board.
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