Press Release | CyberWell Welcomes Meta Recognition that Attacking “Zionists” is Akin to Attacking “Jews”

CYBERWELL WELCOMES META RECOGNITION THAT ATTACKING “ZIONISTS” IS AKIN TO ATTACKING “JEWS”

ONLINE ANTISEMITISM WATCHDOG COMMENDS META’S COMMITMENT TO STRONGER ENFORCEMENT SURROUNDING EUPHEMISTIC USE OF “ZIONIST”

TEL AVIV – CyberWell, an innovative tech nonprofit focused on monitoring and combatting the spread of antisemitism and Holocaust denial online, welcomed Meta’s recognition that the word “Zionist” has been and continues to be used as a proxy term for the word “Jew.” The online antisemitism watchdog commended Meta’s commitment to improving and enforcing its existing digital hate speech policies to moderate posts targeting “Zionists” through the promulgation of conspiracy theories about Jewish global dominance, in its use when associated with dehumanizing Jews and when posts incite violence against Jewish people.

In its role as a trusted partner of Meta, CyberWell submitted data-centered analysis on the use of “Zionist” as a replacement for “Jew,” often avoiding detection and flagging as antisemitic speech according to the social media platforms’ digital policy and moderation resources.

Now that Meta has recognized “Zionist” can be used as a euphemism for “Jew,” CyberWell intends to leverage its technological tools and analysis efforts to ensure this policy is implemented efficiently and fully, and that Meta’s moderation tools are trained to effectively bar this content.

“While the online spread of antisemitism has been a growing issue over the course of the last decade, Oct. 7 and its aftermath brought a new alarming level of acute efforts using the digital space to spread hate against Jews, dehumanize Jewish individuals and communities and to call for violence against them,” said CyberWell Founder and Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor. “As many platforms were caught in the lurch of the largest hijacking of social media platforms by a terrorist group and their apologists, these calls to violence and hatred, often featuring coded language like using the term ‘Zionists’, were amplified by algorithms, ultimately supercharging the open hostility against Jews in online and offline spaces, targeting them across the globe.”

“The use of the term ‘Zionist’ to spread antisemitic vitriol while avoiding detection has been used by radicals on the far Left and extremist on the far Right. Today, Meta has spoken through thoughtful action. By acknowledging the phobic nature of when abuse of the term ‘Zionist’ is meant to spread bigotry and fear, they are actively protecting a targeted minority group of users on their platform that are currently experiencing the worst wave of targeted hate since the Holocaust. We are thankful to our partners at Meta for taking this step, and we hope that other platforms follow suit. With clear policy, safer digital spaces for everyone are possible,” she added.

CyberWell is an independent, internationally focused, tech-rooted nonprofit combatting the spread of antisemitism online. Its AI-technologies monitor social media in English and Arabic for posts that promulgate antisemitism, Holocaust denial and promote violence against Jews based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its analysts review and report this content to platform moderators while indexing all verified posts in the first-ever open database of antisemitic social media posts – democratically cataloging it for transparency at app.cyberwell.org. Through partnerships, education and real-time alerts, CyberWell is holding social media platforms and their moderators accountable, promoting proactive steps against online Jew-hate. For more information, visit: https://cyberwell.org/.