Meta expanded its policy around posts that target “Zionists” to ban speech that uses the term in a way that uses antisemitic tropes or other threatening language against Jews or Israelis, the company said Tuesday.
The policy expands which posts targeting “Zionists” will be removed based on how the term is treated, compared to Meta’s previous hate speech policy that more narrowly banned the term when it was used as a stand-in proxy term for Jewish or Israeli people.
“Going forward, we will remove content attacking ‘Zionists’ when it is not explicitly about the political movement, but instead uses antisemitic stereotypes, or threatens other types of harm through intimidation, or violence directed against Jews or Israelis under the guise of attacking Zionists,” the company said in a blog post.
For example, posts attacking Zionists with dehumanizing comparisons, denials of existence, or “claims about running the world or controlling the media” will be removed under the updated policy, Meta said.
Meta said it revisited use of the term at various times in recent years, including in a March 2024 policy forum, given a lack of “global consensus on what people mean when they use the term ‘Zionist.’”
The company made the update based on “our research, engagement, and on-platform investigation into its use as a proxy term for Jewish people and Israelis in relation to certain types of hateful attacks,” according to the blog post.