Meta’s content moderation board has backed the company’s decision to allow Facebook posts containing the phrase “From the River to the Sea” after ruling that a blanket ban on the pro-Palestine slogan would hinder free speech.
The Oversight Board reviewed three cases involving Facebook posts that featured “From the River to the Sea” and found they did not break Meta’s rules involving restrictions on hate speech and incitement, while an outright ban on the phrase would interfere with political speech in “unacceptable ways”.
In a decision backed by a majority of its members, the board said the content showed solidarity with Palestinians but did not call for violence or exclusion and upheld Meta’s original decision to keep the content on Facebook.
The board, whose decisions on content are binding, said the phrase has multiple meanings and is used “in various ways and with different intentions”. While it could be seen as encouraging antisemitism and the elimination of Israel, the board said, it is also used as a call for solidarity with Palestinians
“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,” said the ruling.
A majority of the board said use of the phrase by Hamas – which is barred from Meta platforms and is designated a terrorist group by the UK and the US – does not make the phrase inherently violent or hateful.
However, a minority of the board argued that because the phrase appears in the group’s 2017 charter, and because of the 7 October attacks perpetrated by Hamas, its use in a post should be presumed to be glorifying a banned entity. The phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” refers to the land between the Jordan river, which borders eastern Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
Critics of the slogan argue that it calls for the elimination of Israel while some of its supporters, including Palestinian-American writer Yousef Munayyer, argue that it supports Palestinians living in “their homeland as free and equal citizens”.
The ruling added: “Because the phrase does not have a single meaning, a blanket ban on content that includes the phrase, a default rule towards removal of such content, or even using it as a signal to trigger enforcement or review, would hinder protected political speech in unacceptable ways.”
In the first of the three cases, a user responded to a video posted by someone else with “FromTheRiverToTheSea” being used in hashtag form. The comment was viewed 3,000 times. In the second case, the phrase “Palestine will be free” – which forms part of the full river to the sea slogan – was formed in an image of floating watermelon slices and was viewed 8m times.
The third case involved From the River to the Sea appearing in a post from a Canadian community organisation which also condemned “Zionist Israeli occupiers” and had fewer than 1,000 views.
A spokesperson for Meta, which also owns Instagram and Threads, said: “We welcome the board’s review of our guidance on this matter. While all of our policies are developed with safety in mind, we know they come with global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside Meta, including the Oversight Board.”
