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
“From the river to the sea” is a phrase that advocates for the dissolution of the state of Israel and the evacuation or elimination of the 9 million people that live there, the majority of which are Jewish. It is inflammatory, antisemitic, flagrant hate speech, and should not be allowed on public forums such as Facebook. Hate speech is not protected free speech.
",Palestine from the river to the sea". is a call for genocide. It should be banned from Meta
The horrific call “from the river to the sea” is a genocidal call. A call for the elimination of the only Jewish country on the globe. No moral person should say it, repeat it and act on it. The UN legitimately voted for the establishment of a state for the Jewish people in its ancestral land after Jews have been dispersed after the Roman Empire exhiled them and destroyed their community, persecuted for centuries and slaughters during WWII. No one in their right mind calls for the elimination of China that oppresses Muslim minorities, no one calls for the removal of Asad who has been murdering his own ppl in Syria. No one should call for the destruction of Israel who is time and again being attacked by neighbors and is only trying to protect its citizens. Stop any slogans that call for the inhalation of the Jewish state!
משפט אנטישמי מובהק שקורא לרצח עם, הכוונה של מי שאומר את המשפט הזה היא למחוק את מדינת ישראל ואת כל היהודים
Dear Oversight Board,
I thank you for this opportunity to offer my feedback on an item of extreme importance and urgency to many of us who support and care for the State of Israel. The popular slogan being publicly used on social media platforms such as Facebook and others is a reprehensible one that is given with genocidal intent and should be permanently banned.
“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.
I urge you to do the right thing and ban this kind of hate speech.
Thank you for your consideration.
Douglas J. Anderson, M.A., Ph.D.
Meta, finally sanity prevails!
You have an opportunity to stand against hate, against bigotry, against the ill educated and ill informed.
Thank you for working towards world peace, acceptance of “ the other” in humanity and for what is right and wrong in this world which has lost its axis.
'From the River to the sea' explicitly means the annihilation of the State of Israel, which is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. This statement is racist and extremist, and calls for the death of all Israelis and Jews. This type of statement would not be tolerated for any other minority/oppressed group and should be banned from Facebook and all of Meta's platforms.
I believe that the phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," is a call for the destruction of Israel and the elimination of the Jewish population there (and ultimately, everywhere). I have interpreted this as a call for violence against the Jewish population in Israel, it is antisemitic, anti-zionist, and anti-Israel, and must be banned as hate speech.
From the river to the seaside is a call for the destruction of Israel. Any call for the destruction of any sovereign country is unacceptable. Not only that, it is a direct call to the death of the jewish in the land of Israel. Pure antisemitism. The river is the Jordan river, the sea is the Mediterranean Sea. A direct call for the elimination of the only Jewish state.
Please ban the river to the sea
The chant was originally coined in Arabic and declares that "from the river to the sea" the land is *Arabic. Meaning free of Jews. The discourse is around an historically irrefutable Jewish homeland. In this context this chant comes from genocidal intent and the ethnic cleansing of Jews which is an ongoing threat in the middle-east. There is calculated and funded propaganda campaign by internationally recognized terrorists organization Hamas back by IRGC in Iran to white wash the true nature of that chant under the guise and the abuse of Western values.
This should be stopped.
"From The River To The Sea" is a genocidal call for the destruction of both The State of Israel and The Jewish People that reside within that state and worldwide. please recognise this slogan for what it is. And that is hate speech.
Calling from the river to the see “Palestine” will be free is a call for genocide.
Freeing the imaginary land of Palestine (which has never existed as a sovereign country) from its current inhabitants is calling for the killing of all those who live there.
1. There is no country called Palestine it was a British mandate over the land of Israel and the name Palestine was given to Israel by the Romans as an offensive name (after the ancient Philistines- Greek seafarers who were enemies of the Jews & nothing to do with the Arabs calling themselves Palestinians today in attempt to cut the ties between the Jewish people and the land of Judea)..
2. Continuing hot call oneself Palestinian or referring to the land of Israel as Palestine, is: a. Meant to confuse the world as to the Arab origin of those people b. A statement of not accepting Israeli sovereignty over our land, although it has been freed from colonialist powers over 75 years ago.
3. Israel is a small country, most of which lies between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. It’s like someone calling from New York to California America will be free, or from Land’s End to John O’groats Britain will be free etc..
its a genocidal call for ethnic cleaning which the Arabs, under Haj Amin Al Husseini, tried to achieve with the help of Hitler, Followed by the Palestinian invention, forming the terrorist organisation PLO in 1964 by notorious mass murderer: Yasser Arafat.
Peace or coexistence has never been the purpose of the “Palestinians”. Those interested in living together as equals and do so right now are Israelis (Jews, Arabs, Druze, Cherkesi etc..).
"From the river to the sea", equates with a past catchy phrase equally as deadly and anti semitic, The final solution.
Both are "hate speech" especially when the proven intention is the complete murder of a people group. As a person of Jewish heritage, though slight, and brother in belief I find it personally offensive.
“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.
Please disallow from the river to the sea from comments. It calls for destruction of the Jewish state and Jews!! Help stop hate speech!!
No to Antisemitism!
"From the River to the Sea" was coined as a call for the destruction of Israel through violence and terrorism. Lately some propagandists have tried to soft peddle it as a slogan of democracy, but the same people can then be heard chanting other slogans like, "There is only one solution, intifada, revolution!" Many of them also shriek, "Resistance isn't terror!," basically encouraging terrorism against Jews. I've also seen "Globalize the intifada!" Since it's important to place Meta restrictions in context, I'm pointing out that "From the river to the sea" is part and parcel of a widespread and antisemitic incitement for violence against Israel and, by extension, Jews everywhere.
If Meta is against this sort of thing, it will ban "From the river to the sea," along with the other incitements to terror.
"From the River to the Sea" is Genocidal Hate Speech that must be stopped. Shame on you for not acting and stopping these hate texts.