Sept. 4 (UPI) — Meta’s oversight board ruled Wednesday that the phrase “From the river to the sea” on the tech giant’s social media platforms — including Facebook — is not hate speech, despite critics’ claims that it calls for the abolishment of the Israeli state.
Meta’s board reviewed three Facebook posts that cited the phrase after users challenged the company’s automated appeals process.
“Specifically, the three pieces of content contain contextual signs of solidarity with Palestinians — but no language calling for violence or exclusion,” Meta wrote in its decision. “They also do not glorify or even refer to Hamas, an organization designated as dangerous by Meta.”
While the board agreed that the phrase has multiple meanings, critics claim the words refer to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish non-governmental organization, has called the slogan “From the river to the sea,” anti-Semitic and a “rallying cry that has long been used by anti-Israel voices, including supporters of terrorist organizations such as Hamas.”
The slogan has gained ground on social media platforms — including Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and Threads — since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people and ended with 251 held hostage.
Pro-Palestinian activists, who have chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in protests, including during last spring’s demonstrations on college campuses, insist it is a call for equality and an independent state for Palestinians.
Former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik warned students that the use of the term could end with disciplinary actions. In Germany, the slogan’s use is a criminal offense.
According to Meta’s board — which is made up of non-partisan lawyers, academics and tech advisers — for the phrase to be considered hate speech on its platforms, it must be accompanied by other language.
“The standalone phrase cannot be understood as a call to violence against a group based on their protected characteristics, as advocating for the exclusion of a particular group, or of supporting a designated entity — Hamas,” the board wrote.
Meta’s board acknowledged in Wednesday’s decision that it understands why some people believe the phrase supports Hamas after it appeared in the terror group’s 2017 charter.
“The phrase’s use by this terrorist group with explicit violent eliminationist intent and actions, does not make the phrase inherently hateful — or violent — considering the variety of people using the phrase in different ways.”