Meta Platforms said Tuesday it would begin removing more posts attacking “Zionists” when the term is used to refer to Jewish people and Israelis rather than to represent supporters of the political movement.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company said in a blog post that it would remove content “that attacks ‘Zionists’ when not explicitly about the political movement” and uses anti-Semitic stereotypes or threatens to cause harm through intimidation or violence directed at Jews or Israelis.
Meta’s hate speech policy prohibits direct attacks on people based on what it calls protected characteristics, which include race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, disability and gender identity, among others.
The social media giant said its current policies, which treat the term “Zionist” as a stand-in for Jews or Israelis in only two limited circumstances, do not sufficiently address the ways people use the word more broadly.
The policy update, which follows Meta’s consultations with 145 stakeholders representing civil society and academia across all regions of the world, comes at a time when tensions are rising in the Middle East amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
Meta has been criticized for years for how it handles Middle East-related content, and that criticism grew even more acute after the start of the war, when human rights groups accused the company of suppressing content supporting Palestinians on Facebook and Instagram.