Unless they intend to completely abdicate their responsibility to address antisemitism and hate, Meta must significantly reform their reporting process
New York, NY, January 7, 2025 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) expressed deep concern today about Meta’s policy announcement in terms of their commitment to addressing antisemitism and hate.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director, issued the following statement:
“It is mind blowing how one of the most profitable companies in the world, operating with such sophisticated technology, is taking significant steps back in terms of addressing antisemitism, hate, misinformation and protecting vulnerable & marginalized groups online. The only winner here is Meta’s bottom line and as a result, all of society will suffer."
The ADL Center for Technology and Society further commented on the changes:
- Meta indicates that outside of some specific forms of harm (terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams) it will not do proactive enforcement of their policies and will rely on user reporting. Our recent report card shows however that Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) responded to exactly zero cases of antisemitic content when reported as average users.
- Meta must significantly reform their average user reporting process unless they intend to completely abdicate their responsibility to address antisemitism and hate at a time when it is surging online and offline.
- Moreover, it is dangerous that Meta will be “getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender”. Our research shows that LGBTQ+ users, especially transgender users, receive the most harassment of any marginalized groups and that Facebook is the platform where users are harassed the most overall regardless of their identity. It is one thing to discuss policy, but Meta should focus their attention on prioritizing the protection of marginalized users, not opening the floodgates for attacks based on identity.
- Finally, it's unclear the factual basis for Meta’s change toward “community notes” vs fact checking to address misinformation. Our recent study on hateful misinformation and elections on social media shows the dangers of tech companies rolling back approaches to misinformation.
- If all of this is the direction Meta is heading in 2025, it is a bad sign of what is to come for Jews and all marginalized people on their platforms.
ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all.