Case Description
Due to a technical glitch, our public comments portal for cases related to the "From the River to the Sea" phrase closed earlier than planned. To ensure everyone has a chance to share their input, we've reopened it for 24 hours. The portal will now close at 12pm BST on May 23rd.
These three cases concern content decisions made by Meta, all on Facebook, which the Oversight Board intends to address together.
The three posts were shared by different users in November 2023, following the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 and the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Each post contains the phrase “From the river to the sea.” All three were reported by users for violating Meta’s Community Standards. The company decided to leave all three posts on Facebook. For each case, the Board will decide whether the content should be removed under Meta’s policies and according to its human rights responsibilities. Numbers of views and reports are correct as of the end of February 2024.
The first case concerns a comment from a Facebook user on another user’s video. The video has a caption encouraging others to “speak up” with numerous hashtags including “#ceasefire” and “#freepalestine.” The comment on the post contains the phrase “FromTheRiverToTheSea” in hashtag form, as well as several additional hashtags including “#DefundIsrael.” The comment had about 3,000 views and was reported seven times by four users. The reports were closed after Meta’s automated systems did not send them for human review within 48 hours.
In the second case, a Facebook user posted what appears to be a generated image of fruit floating on the sea that form the words from the phrase, along with “Palestine will be free.” The post had about 8 million views and was reported 951 times by 937 users. The first report on the post was closed, again because Meta’s automated systems did not send it for human review within 48 hours. Subsequent reports by users were reviewed and assessed as non-violating by human moderators.
In the third case, a Facebook page reshared a post from the page of a community organization in Canada in which a statement from the “founding members” of the organization declared support for “the Palestinian people,” condemning their “senseless slaughter” by the “Zionist State of Israel” and “Zionist Israeli occupiers.” The post ends with the phrase “From The River To The Sea.” This post had less than 1,000 views and was reported by one user. The report was automatically closed.
The Facebook users who reported the content, and subsequently appealed Meta’s decisions to leave up the content to the Board, claimed the phrase was breaking Meta’s rules on Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement or Dangerous Organizations and Individuals. The user who reported the content in the first case stated that the phrase violates Meta’s policies prohibiting content that promotes violence or supports terrorism. The users who reported the content in the second and third cases stated that the phrase constitutes hate speech, is antisemitic and is a call to abolish the state of Israel.
After the Board selected these cases for review, Meta confirmed its original decisions were correct. Meta informed the Board that it analyzed the content under three policies – Violence and Incitement, Hate Speech and Dangerous Organizations and Individuals – and found the posts did not violate any of these policies. Meta explained the company is aware that “From the river to the sea” has a long history and that it had reviewed use of the phrase on its platform after October 7, 2023. After that review, Meta determined that, without additional context, it cannot conclude that “From the river to the sea” constitutes a call to violence or a call for exclusion of any particular group, nor that it is linked exclusively to support for Hamas.
The Board selected these cases to consider how Meta should moderate the use of the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and controversies around the phrase’s meaning. On the one hand, the phrase has been used to advocate for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians. On the other hand, it could have antisemitic implications, as claimed by the users who submitted the cases to the Board. This case falls within the Board’s strategic priority of Crisis and Conflict Situations.
The Board would appreciate public comments that address:
- The origin and current uses of the phrase: “From the river to the sea.”
- Research into online trends in content using the phrase.
- Research into any associated online and offline harms from the use of the phrase.
- Meta’s human rights responsibilities in relation to content using the phrase including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and equality and non-discrimination.
- State and institutional (e.g., university) responses to the use of the phrase (e.g., during protests) and the human rights impacts of those responses.
As part of its decisions, the Board can issue policy recommendations to Meta. While recommendations are not binding, Meta must respond to them within 60 days. As such, the Board welcomes public comments proposing recommendations that are relevant to these cases.
Comments
It is an "aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate" - Rashida Talib, Congresswoman
It is "a demand for democratic coexistence between
Jews and Arabs" - American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
It is a call for "justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty" - Andy McDonald, London labor PM
It is a desire for a state in which "Palestinians can live in their homeland as free and equal citizens, neither dominated by others nor dominating them" - Yousef Munayyer, Palestinian-American writer
It is a call for "the return of [5.9 million] refugees who have been kicked out of their homes from 1948 till now." - Rama Al Malah, organizer with Palestinian Youth Movement.
🙏 please help liberate these beautiful people to freedom from oppression and illegal occupation.❤️
From the river to the sea is not hate speech and it does not mean death to Jewish people. It merely means liberation for Palestinian people who have suffered 76+ years of brutal occupation and murder - from the river to the sea is full of love and life and peace - Zionists have twisted the meaning for their own gains to continue to oppress the Palestinian people. It’s the same as our “always was always will be” phrase for Aboriginal people in so called Australia. It’s a call to end racism and murder and genocide and should always be allowed to be spoken. The same way Jewish people have the phrase “never again”. As always. Free Palestine. Fight for justice, end the brutal occupation and let these children live.
The chant under question is full of pride, determination, and self respect. To rid social media of the freedom of speech, especially when it seems it is one sided, will cause an uproar. There is no reason this politically influenced possibility should even exist. If you choose this side, it will go down in history. ALLOW THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH
It should be obvious that a phrase that calls for the violent elimination of a sovereign state and its inhabitants goes against Community Standards regardless of how popular the phrase may currently be. When one considers that the phrase is a loose translation from the Arabic, to appeal to Americans who will believe anything that rhymes, it becomes even more insidious and violent. The phrase in Arabic is From water to water, the land will be Arab.
“From the river to the sea” to me means the right of all people to live in equality, freedom, and dignity.
"From the river to the sea, palestine will be free" means the need for equality for all inhabitants of historic Palestine. There is a 2 tiered justice system similar to the Jim Crow era of american law. Those who support apartheid and Jewish supremacy will find the egalitarian chant objectionable. A cry for freedom for all people is never hate speech.
I believe the phrase “from the river to the sea“ should be allowed at all times. This is part of freedom of speech
"From the river to the sea" is absolutely hate speech. It calls for elimination of a nation state, and the genocide of the Jewish people.
There is nothing wrong with this simple slogan. If its antisemetic, then why does Israel supporters also use it?
Its just a slogan. But a slogan that Zionists dont like, cos they never like anything that even mentions the word, Palestine.
So their reason, is unjustified and more so, its racist. As it seeks to silent Palestinians or more so, any person from mentioning Palestine.
"From the River to the Sea" is not hate speech at all. In fact it is the antithesis. It is a call for justice and Palestinian human rights. It dreams of the end of apartheid in Israel, and for Palestinians to be recognized as full citizens, peacefully coexisting with all others in their homeland as they had for centuries before the Nakba... no longer relegated to being second-class citizens, no longer oppressed and denied freedom of movement. No longer harassed, assaulted or murdered with impunity by the Israeli military and police. And "From the River to the Sea" means the right of return for refugees and members of the diaspora who have been illegally kicked out of their homes for the last 75 years and forced into Gaza and the West Bank or scattered around the globe. Censoring posts with this important phrase would be a huge blow to free speech and to the movement for Palestinian human rights.
Hello,
The line "from the river to the sea" is a call for peace and justice - for equal rights for Palestinians from the river to the sea, who have existed under the longest military occupation in modern history. It is an "aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate” - Rashida Talib, Congresswoman. It is "a demand for democratic coexistence between Jews and Arabs” - American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. It is call for freedom of human rights for Palestinians to move freely in their land. It does not have any intent for violence against anyone. It does not have any intent of taking any human rights away from anyone. Censoring this line is an egregious violations of free expression.
"From the river to the sea" is not hate speech, but more a declaration that Palestine and Palestinians need to be freed from the apartheid state of its occupier, Israel, who have violently oppressed the Palestinian people (including Palestinian Muslims, Jews, and Christians) for 76 years.
Claims that “from the river to the sea..” is an antisemitic trope are absurd. The chant has been used for decades and never raised any alarm until Israel lobbyists manufactured a crisis in order to distract attention from the atrocities taking place in Gaza. It is simply a call for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory. Nothing in it could be taken as anti Jewish or a threat of any kind. To label this mild chant as a call to violence or a statement of antisemitism's would make Facebook look ridiculous.
Posts that include “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” are seeking/calling for peace in the region. Similar chants in Hebrew have been allowed that actually directly incite violence against Palestinian nationals. You have responsibility to showcase both sides truth that does not include incitement to violence towards the other. This reference has no hateful narrative rather it is celebrating the past and the life left. To restrict specific content such as this goes against the international law and meta might face jurisdictial consequences for suppression of content.
The ban of a phrase that seeks the respect of the most basic human rights is not going to age well. Many human rights associations are concerned and desperate for actions that protect palestinian from dehumanization. This platform is an important tool for a democratic way of sharing information. It's important for everybody's safety, that it stays like that.
Whoever reported and appealed this obviously has ulterior motives, trying to find a way to suppress free speech. This phrase in question is not a form of hate speech whatsoever. Do not ban this phrase, unless you are willing to ban everything the Zionists say as well.
A truly idiotic proposal. You’ll go to war over language, but do nothing in condemnation of GENOCIDE? Everyone involved should be deeply embarrassed.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. So ban the phrase you fucking clowns, but you will NEVER change where anyone stands on that.
I’ll say it AGAIN: from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Banning this phrase or removing posts containing it does not make sense. Bans on phrases are intended to restrict speech and this is not an instance of hate speech in any way.
This phrase expresses solidarity with and between Palestinians and calls for freedom — a concept that should be an inalienable right of all people. Banning a call for freedom for people living under occupation sends a clear message that Meta in fact supports oppression, a message that I would be surprised to hear Meta publicly endorsing.
From the river to the sea Palestine will be free means that Palestinians will be free to have the same rights and freedoms like those of every human being. It does not impact anyone else’s freedoms or rights but shares a hope towards a more equal society that in effect would mean a more safe and peaceful society for all regardless of religion or ethnicity. It would place no race, ethnicity or religion as above another group and grant equal rights to all.