Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it is changing its rules to restrict the use of the word “Zionists,” saying the term had often become a proxy for hate speech against Jews.
The term “Zionism” is often associated with the political movement begun in the 19th century, prior to the founding of Israel, to create a nation-state for the Jewish people.
But in a blog post Tuesday, Meta said that “there is nothing approaching a global consensus on what people mean when they use the term ‘Zionist’” and that it had become “a proxy term for Jewish people and Israelis in relation to certain types of hateful attacks.”
The company said it will remove posts attacking “Zionists” when that content uses antisemitic stereotypes or threatens harm through intimidation or violence directed against Jews or Israelis. Meta said it would continue to allow the term in posts about the Zionist political movement, which the company said remains a subject open for debate on its platforms.
The announcement is the latest attempt by the social media company to draw lines around acceptable online speech related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The company and an independent board are also weighing when to allow the pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea” on Instagram and Facebook. In that case, the question is whether the phrase qualifies as hate speech because some people use it as a call for the elimination of Israel.
Meta said it made the change in line with its long-standing policy banning attacks based on protected characteristics such as nationality, race or religion. That policy prohibits content that calls for violence against Jews or Muslims, for example.
In April, Columbia University said it had banned a student protest leader from campus after a video resurfaced that showed the student saying Zionists “don’t deserve to live.”
Meta said it consulted with 145 organizations and individuals before reaching its conclusion. The group included political scientists, historians, legal scholars, digital and civil rights groups, freedom of expression advocates, and human rights experts.
David Ingram is a tech reporter for NBC News.
