(JTA) Pro-Israel groups decried a ruling by Meta’s independent oversight body Wednesday that social media posts containing the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a longstanding Palestinian rallying cry, shouldn’t be automatically removed.
The Oversight Board, a Meta-funded panel made of experts and lawyers overseeing content moderation for Facebook and Instagram, ruled the phrase can continue to be used as an expression of solidarity with Palestinians as long as it’s not accompanied by calls for violence, praise for dangerous organizations or what company policy considers hate speech.
In its ruling, the board said that because the phrase can have multiple meanings, the context in which it is used must be considered.
