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Facebook is proposing yet another problematic hate speech policy that would undermine its users’ freedom of expression. Pressured to combat surging hate speech and anti-Semitism on its platform, the company is looking into how it should moderate the use of the word “Zionist,” and whether to add the term as a protected category under its hate speech policy. We don’t think that is a good idea, particularly given Facebook’s inability to strictly adhere to human rights principles in its content moderation practices.

FACEBOOK’S PROBLEMATIC PROPOSAL

Essentially, under the new hate speech policy Facebook would remove “attacks” against Zionists when the term is used as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli. Facebook defines attacks as “as violent or dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation.”

The policy has stirred significant criticism and fury among progressive Jewish, Palestinian, and Muslim groups. For one, it imposes a single and inaccurate worldview in which Zionists are synonymous with Jews, a view which many activists spoke publicly against. But most importantly —  and this is where we are particularly concerned —  the policy would lead to further censorship of legitimate political speech.

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