The social network has been accused of policies that have indiscriminately censored Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking users of its services. 

Meta will start taking down more posts that target “Zionists” when the term is used to refer to Jewish people and Israelis rather than representing supporters of the political movement.

The new policy is designed to prevent the use of “Zionist” as a way to express “antisemitic views” towards Jews and Israelis. The tech parent said in a blog post on Tuesday.

“After hearing input and looking at research from different perspectives, we will now remove speech targeting “Zionists” in several areas where our process showed that the speech tends to be used to refer to Jews and Israelis with dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence,” Meta stated. 

“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.” it added.

Meta said it consulted with over 145 experts representing civil society and academia across global regions before determining “the existing policy guidance does not sufficiently address the ways people are using the term…online and offline.”

What is Zionism? 

Zionism is Israel’s national ideology, founded in the late 19th century. 

The term is rooted in a nationalist political ideology that called for the creation of a Jewish state and now supports the continued existence of Israel as such a state.

Since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, in both social media and in the streets, critics have called out supporters of the state of Israel, Zionists. 

Those who oppose Zionism see it as a driver of the settler colonialism that dispossessed Palestinians during the founding of Israel. 

Israel’s establishment coincided with the expulsion of countless Palestinians who were forcibly removed from their homes in what is known as the Nakba, the Arabic word for “catastrophe.”

Self-acclaimed Zionists include members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as well as some U.S. politicians. 

On several accounts, President Joe Biden has reiterated that he is a Zionist and said Israel must take advantage of an opportunity to have peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.

“You need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. I’m a Zionist. Where there’s no Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world to be safe,” Biden said on a television appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” earlier this year. 

Censorship of pro-Palestinian content

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned Meta, who has been accused of policies and practices that have indiscriminately censored Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking users of its services. 

After the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza last year, widely referred to as genocide, HRW said that Meta had misused its DOI policy to “restrict legitimate speech around hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.”

Between October and November 2023, HRW documented over 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of content on Instagram and Facebook that had been posted by pro-Palestinians supporting, including about Israeli human rights abuses.

“Of the 1,050 cases reviewed for this report, 1,049 involved peaceful content in support of Palestine that was censored or otherwise unduly suppressed, while one case involved removal of content in support of Israel,” the HRW report highlighted. 

“Human Rights Watch found that the censorship of content related to Palestine on Instagram and Facebook is systemic and global,” the report added. “Meta’s inconsistent enforcement of its own policies led to the erroneous removal of content about Palestine.” 

Days after October 7, Zuckerberg condemned the Hamas attacks as “pure evil” and and said that his focus is on the safety of “our employees and their families in Israel and the region”. He has yet to issue a single statement on the killing of almost 39,000 Palestinians by Israeli forces in the past nine months.

In March this year, nearly 200 Meta employees signed a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, demanding transparency and an end to alleged censorship.

The employees also called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The public statement from Meta employees follows a separate internal petition that collected more than 450 signatures.