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
You must stop treating frustration and anger as hate. I am beside myself with frustration over the sad and untenable situation in Gaza and the persistent abuse of Palestinians which appears to be deliberate. But I am NOT antisemitic, nor do I hate the Jews. A large part of my family is Jewish and they are equally troubled by the situation.
a cry for freedom
Freedom for Palestinians does not mean genocide of Jews; it just means that Israel will no longer be in thrall to Israel and the whims and control of the Israeli government; it means that the apartheid system set up by Israel and allowed by its allies will no longer be allowed, thus giving the Palestinian people the rights and dignity any human being should be allowed, and that the tyranny inflicted on the Palestinains by Israel will no longer be tolerated.
From the River to the Sea is a call for freedom for Palestinians and peaceful co-existence between people of all backgrounds in the region. The implementation of the *state* of Israel has included the Nakba (catastrophe), occupation and apartheid and now genocide of Palestinians. From the River to the Sea is a call for freedom and a just peace and should *not* be censored or flagged as hate speech.
When Netanyahu says ‘From the River to the sea’ is this considered hate speech? The hypocrisy is astounding.
Killing children is wrong
It boggles my mind that people actually think this phrase is hate speech. It is an appropriate phrase to whats currently happening to the Palestinians which is apartheid. We can't just say this is hate speech just because it bothers some. I've seen those same ones who says this is hate speech say much worse which is actually hate.
The Palestinians live under a brutal occupation and it is acknowledged by the UN and Amnesty this is a system of apartheid as well as Gaza being known globally as 'the world's largest open air prison'.
Most of the West Bank, which is Palestinian land is now occupied by Israel, this is also illegal under international law.
The West still wont recognise Palestine.
From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free just means free of their land being illegally occupied, free of an apartheid regime and free to live as normal citizens in a recognised Palestinian state. It in no way diminishes the rights of Israelis to live in land recognised as Israel under international law. On the contrary it will make life safer for Israelis when their neighbours are not fighting oppression.
Please uphold Meta's decision, it was the correct one.
Flagging “from the river to the sea” as hate speech will not protect the marginalized, the maligned, or the massacred. But it will muzzle their voices so fewer people are aware of the relentless brutality being visited on Palestine.
To the oversight board,
“From the River to the Sea” is an anti-Semitic slogan, hate speech that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people and should be banned from social media.
Thank you.
Sincerely, Kathy Memoly
Apartheid Israel is our biggest enemy. Zionism equals Genocide.
Flagging “from the river to the sea” as hate speech will not protect the marginalized, the maligned, or the massacred. But it will muzzle their voices so fewer people are aware of the relentless brutality being visited on Palestine.
The statement in question is not an antisemitic or genocidal call but rather a slogan and chant for the liberation of the Palestinian people that have been oppressed and persecuted for over 76 years. Meta's censorship of pro-palestinian and anti-war, anti-genocide, and anti-zionist posts is complicity in the atrocities faced by the Palestinian people. Note that globally and especially here in the US there are dozens of Jewish organizations and thousands of Jewish people who are using this same slogan to protest against the actions of Israel, and against the conflating of Zionism to Judaism, as well as the weaponization of the Judaic faith and holocaust victimhood against the legitimate criticism of Israel. Many of the campus protests we see today are spearheaded and organized primarily by Jews. This misuse of antisemitism claims is inherently antisemitic and further endangers non-zionist Jewish people by watering down real antisemitism.
Meta is guilty of data privacy issues and of sharing data with Israel and zionist parties and now this censorship of pro-Palestinian liberation slogans, posts, and activity is just another stain on the legacy of this company.
Note that Semite is term for a cultural, ethnic, or racial group associated with Middle Eastern people, including Arabs, Jews, Akkadians, and Phoenicians. This includes Palestinians. Therefore, your actions and censorship policies are antisemitic, as are the actions of Israel. Silencing Palestinians, and Jewish people who criticize Israel and zionism is inherently anti-Jewish and antisemitic
Do not conflate the desire for Palestine liberation with antisemitism. Wanting Palestine to be free is not a call for genocide. And yet while people are accused of that phrase implying genocide, a real genocide is occurring. Let’s make sure that stops.
Human society must be inclusive otherwise it fails.
End the illegal, inhuman Occupation