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 a comment that incites genocide.
This statement means the elimination of Israel, the only country for the Jewish people.
Do you support another holocaust?
The phrase from the river to the sea represents the desire to eliminate Israel and replace it with Palestine, it’s not a peaceful phrase but a forceful way to express antisemitism, as the Hamas charter clearly states they will not rest until all Jewish people are dead.
River to River is anti-Semitic.
It implies that the Jews should be killed and disappear from Israel since that is the only way they will be able to have all the land of Israel
This phrase and similar ones should be banned.
Remove from the river to the sea on posts as it is offensive and Jew hatred
POSTS THAT INCLUDE “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” ARE GENOCIDAL AND HATE SPEECH. THEY SHOULD BE BANNED ON META.
I’m Jewish and it’s called to kill all Jews that live from the river to the sea, I don’t see how this slogan kills me my friend my family it’s a thing that we can support as a society.
There is a space for any voice as long is not hurting other people, and if this subject is here to discuss that means that something is wrong otherwise we wouldn’t think to have a survey on it.
This madness has to stop and the first step it's Stop giving a hand to this verbal violence.
This is nothing less than a call for the destruction of the sovereign state of Israel, which would necessitate the murder of 8 million Jews. It can be construed in no other terms.
When people say “from the river to the sea” I feel like they want all Israelis dead or basically gone, one way or the other.
Israeli Arabs have rights here in Israel and so I don’t understand what they want to do with all Jews in this country, other then kill us all.
Thus , I think it is a hateful saying that needs to be gone in the social media.
Using the phrase for "from the river to the sea" is hate speech. It calls for the eradication of Israel and all its Jewish people. Comments using this phrase should absolutely be removed. It is part of antisemitic hate speech against a country that has every right to exist and defend itself from terror. Hamas (a terrorist organization) wants to see all Jews dead and they (Hamas) often use this phrase in their rallying cry. Facebook any any other social media under your control should not allow a rallying cry of a terrorist group to freely stand. You don't allow swastikas and nazi phrases for good reason (hate speech) - do the same thing here. Call it out for what it is, it is hate speech.
this phrase is:
1. Originated in a terrorist organization (Hamas) charter.
2. Palestine was a name the Roman gave to the region that included 'Eretz Israel', but no Palestinian State.
3. This phrase is calling for the creation of a new Palestinian state in place of the existing state of Israel, that means the genocide of all Israelis (of all denominations).
4. This phrase is calling for the destruction of Israel, as an Anti-Zionist call that rejects the right of Jews for self-determibation and security.
5. It is Antisemitic and a recist call for violence.
6. It is prohibitive to a peace agreement in the region.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free - of Jews. It’s literally a call for genocide and does nothing to promote Palestinian statehood or equality.
As someone who has had this phrase chanted at me by a mob who broke into a building like the rioters at the capital, all I can say is that this term has antisemitic roots from a genocidal organization and is used to harm Jews in practice.
If “from the river to the sea” was not a call to rid Israel of Jews, why would Hamas, which calls for the mass murder of Jews in their charter, use it?
The Nazi chant “blood and soil” doesn’t sound like a call to murder Jews out of context. But when you scream it at us, that’s what it is.
Same goes for “from the river to the sea.”
Stop using semantics to shield antisemitism.
This phrase was coined to intentionally spark passion for the destruction of the Israeli state. In Arabic it is said differently - “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be Arab”. This is clearly a call for the end of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world and the indigenous land of the Jewish people. Meanwhile, the Arab world has colonized 42 states through murder, rape, and forced conversion. This phrase is a call for more murder, rape, and forced conversion, as well as colonization. It must be condemned as hate speech, just as the US has already decided that it is.
To chant a chant looking for the destruction and murder of me, my kids, friends and neighbors and my country and its people is sickening and no other country would want it
I protest the use of texts which include "from the river to the sea" as anti semitic slogans, anti Israel and calls for the genocidal destruction and annihilation of my sovereign state of Israel, my home, family and community.
“From the river to the sea”
Is a call for anihilation of all the people who live in the democratic state of Israel.
And destruction of that state.
The phrase was originated by terrorists organizations such as Hamas.
This phrase is to be considered hate speech and incitement on your platform.
This statement falls under hate speech and terrorism, and should not be accepted.
"From the river to the sea" has one simple meaning, and that is the destruction of Israel. Often voiced as a call to action alone, but more often paired with such genocidal statements as "intifada, revolution" or "death to Zionists," it is a modern day dog-whistle calling for violence. While free speech is, and ought to remain protected, asking for directed violence against a people, nationality, or ethnicity has been repeatedly ruled as non-protected. This phrase, especially alongside agreeing with Hamas and it's terroristic actions, must be read through those lenses.
Thank you for your time.
To Jews who know better and I'm sure Palestinians "from the river to the sea" means a October 7th scale genocidal massacre across all of Israel. Therefore to allow that on Meta is very anti-semitic. We are asking you to please purge it and not let in back again.