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
The phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is antisemitic. It refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The space between those two bodies of water consists of the entirety of the Land of Israe. The phrase specifically calls for the removal and the destruction of all Jews in the Middle East. Anybody who uses this phrase is calling for Jews to be vacated from their ancestral homeland.
Any call for an extinction of a population is illegal
This phrase has a long history; it refers to the land between river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, which was historic Palestine (prior to Ottoman and British rule and Israeli occupation [this is using the United Nations definition of Palestine as the Occupied Palestinian Territories]).
The phrase in itself does not promote hate or violence towards a specific group.
It can be understood as a call for Palestinian independence from the state of Israel. The right to be an independent state (not living under occupation by a foreign military power) is a right enshrined by the United Nations. To want to be independent of Israel, or to criticise the Israeli state and its occupation, is not the same as being anti-semitic.
This phrase doesn't mention a specific group of people, or for actions against a specific group of people. A common misinterpretation is that it *implies* the removal of the Jewish population from Palestine/Israel. While a phrase can be used differently by different people, I've never heard it used with this intent behind it in the last 20 years of community organising around Palestine.
This misinterpretation obscures the fact that historically there have been Jewish Palestinians, and, whatever the future outcome (e.g. a 1 or 2 state solution), there will continue to be Jewish Palestinians.
The binary opposition in the media of Palestinians 'versus 'Jewish people is oversimplistic and inaccurate. There are both Jewish Palestinians and pro-Palestinian Jewish groups, as well as pro-Israel Jewish groups.
Since October 7th there is another misinterpretation that using this phrase shows support of a specific political party e.g. Hamas, even though the phrase has been in use since before it was founded as a party, and is used by a range of different political groups and communities across Palestine/Israel that call for Palestinian independence.
I understand people's fears in a time of rising hate crime including anti-semitism and Islamophobia, but to conflate, reduce and project these fears onto a phrase which has nothing to do with hate speech
isn't helpful. It obscures real examples of hate speech that definitely need to be monitored. To focus on this phrase takes time, energy and resources away from tackling real hate speech (which is, unfortunately, in abundance at the moment) both online and IRL.
Israel is the country that exists between the Mediterranean see to the Jorden river. The call form the river to the see means Israel won’t exists and all Jewish residents will be killed or deported, which is about 8 million people.
In Israel lives peacefully 2 million Arabs, mostly Muslims!
In Gaza and West Bank the Palestinian have their own government! 0 Jews live in their cities. They own the land, they have police and government there. But it’s 2 territories between the river to the sea, any attempt of them to gain rest of Israel is a crime that ruins the safety of everyone in the Middle East
"From the river to the sea..." is genocidal hate speech against Jews and everyone knows it. I would compare it to the N word, which was rightly banned from public use due to its dehumanizing and traumatizing intent. Thank you to the Oversight Board for the concern and commitment to recognizing true hate speech and removing it from the platforms they oversee.
It is a completely acceptable term to describe the movement for Palestinian liberation. It does not disenfranchise others, it does not suggest that this is exclusive, it merely suggests the reaches of Palestinian freedom.
The calling of “river to the sea” is a calling to commit genocide, eliminate the state of Israel and kill the Jews living there.
Its racial lenguaje “From the river ti the sea”
IT me and delite all Israel
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA
implies the destruction of Israel. No one would allow posts that call for the destruction of Egypt, Japan, Korea, Serbia, or Ukraine.
This statement is anti-Semitic and leads to hatred and acts of violence, in that it denies Jews the right to exist in the only country in the world where they are safe. Throughout the history, jews were deported, attacked and murdered in every country in the world, until they returned to their homeland - Israel.
Deniel of their right to safely lives in Israel, means denial of their right to safely live at all.
This statement is harmless and does not violate any hate speech rules.
It is absolutely necessary to remove all posts including the phrase "from the river to the sea.".. It is a derogatory term that is used by people who have no idea what it means. Including which river or which sea. It is a term that means nothing and used by terrorists who want to destroy a nation. Action needs to be taken against all of those who use that term or plan to use that term in the future. This is absolutely unacceptable. Why does Facebook allow users who want to destroy others and ban the wrong accounts. Absolutely disgraceful.
From the River to the Sea is 100% genocidal hate speech that advocates for the destruction of the one and only Jewish state and the mass murder of its Jewish population. It must be banned.
This expression is used by Palestinian terrorists which means the elimination of Israel the biblical home land of the Jewish people Killing the Jews there,genocide of the Jewish nation exactly like Hitler tried in WW2.
Palestine was never a state,it was part of Othman empire ,later the British empire and than Egypt and Jordan .
Why is it that when protesters chant from the river to the sea many people in western countries do not like to believe what the content of these words mean and what these people are actually saying. When Palestinians and their supporters chant these words they are describing an area of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean sea that they would like to see free of jews. Consider this as similar to Nazi ideology wishing that Europe was to be Jew free. It is incomprehensible to me that people have trouble seeing the difference and that I have to explain this.
The phrase originated form Hamas charter which is a terror organization who call to exterminate the jewish people and eradicated the only Jewish country in the world.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is an open call for the complete annihilation of the State of Israel and its citizens.
This is 100% genocidal hate speech that advocates for the destruction of the one and only Jewish state and the mass murder of its Jewish population.
Now is our opportunity to ensure that Meta upholds its responsibility to combat antisemitism on its platform.
We urge you to submit a public comment using the button below to make your voice heard and to demand accountability from Meta’s Oversight Board.
Together, let us stand in solidarity against hatred and bigotry, and work towards a safer and more inclusive online community.
Meta’s rules on Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement or Dangerous Organizations and Individuals: this horrible phrase violates Meta’s own policies prohibiting content that promotes violence or supports terrorism. The users who reported the content in these cases stated that the phrase constitutes hate speech, is antisemitic and is a call to abolish the state of Israel. Why does Meta protect Hamas & Iran & anti-Semitism? Seems that it’s ok to promulgate hate against Israel & Jews but oh no- not against anyone else (blacks, homeless, LGBQ, illegals, criminals, rapists as long as they only raped Israelis, etc). Such a disgusting double standard! What’s wrong with your morality meter? Seems it’s been so long since it was used that it’s rusted out. Time to oil it for the good of mankind & democracy before it’s too late- the clock is running out. Every day that you waste turns more young innocent minds into swallowing the lies that are on social media. Please do the right & sane thing now!
“From the river to the sea” is no less than a call for the destruction of Israel
This statement is violently antisemitic