In a welcome announcement on July 9, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, stated that it would be making an update to its policies concerning use of the word ‘Zionist.’ Meta based its change of the fact that the term Zionist “may be used as a proxy to refer to Jewish or Israeli people, which are protected characteristics under our Hate Speech policy.” Meta differentiated this use of Zionist with statements that refer to a political stance or ideology, specifying that political affiliation is not a protected characteristic.

Meta is bringing their policy in line with something that human rights advocates have long understood: attacking Zionists is frequently a thinly veiled attack on Jews.

Meta’s decision was clearly not made impulsively. In their policy update, the company outlined the process and analysis they undertook in coming to this decision. Meta consulted with “145 stakeholders representing civil society and academia” around the world, and concluded that Zionist is far too often used in place of specifying Jewish or Israeli people. In this context, Zionists are singled out and targeted with “dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence.”

With this policy update, Meta claims they will now be removing content where the word Zionist is being used to refer to Jews or Israelis, and those accounts may be subject to suspension or removal from the platform. Content that goes against this policy will be identified by content reviewers and technology tools Meta has in place that flags, and potentially removes, content that goes against their policies.

Besides the lateness of this policy change from the California technology company, and the deafening silence from other platforms on this topic, social media has long been a hotbed of hate speech. Statistics Canada reported in February 2024 that 7 out of every 10 young people in Canada have been exposed to hate online.

In the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians, and Israel’s subsequent campaign to defeat Hamas in Gaza, antisemitism, both on social media and offline, has increased drastically.

In November 2023, CBC News’ James Chaarani wrote a article that placed blame for increased antisemitism on social media on the algorithms used to promote engagement on those platforms. Arguing that hateful posts drive traffic and attract reactions and comments, Chaarani despaired of finding real solutions.

Chaarani consulted with Aimée Morrison, an associate professor at The University of Waterloo’s English department whose work focuses on social media. Morrison suggested that users should filter out keywords they find hateful “so that that traumatizing material isn’t showing up,” noting that many platforms have ways to tailor one’s feed to engage with their interests.

This is how some experts aim to confront online hate: just ignore it.

To suggest that users bear responsibility for filtering out potentially hateful messages from view is an abdication of responsibility for Canada’s news outlets. Meta is, belatedly, taking action in this regard, and it behooves all organizations that create and disseminate news content to take similar steps. A social media post is not so different from a comment on a news article, and the responsibility falls on the website hosts to ensure an environment free from hate for all.

Canadian media, among others, ought to take careful note of Meta’s policy change and follow suit.

While this policy will still be largely enforced through user flagging and feedback, it marks an important shift in the discussion of the term Zionist. The Toronto Star’s Martin Regg Cohn noted this in his June 6 column, where he noted that “today, Zionists or “Zios” are the preferred proxies for denigrating Jews, even calling for their exclusion.” Cohn is to be commended for his astute observation.

Meta has provided an important precedent that should be recognized and followed by Canadian news publications and broadcasters, as well as authorities such as universities, law enforcement and more. No longer should Jew-haters be able to hide behind the word “Zionist” when it is clear that they really mean “Jew.”