After Ban on ‘Shaheed’ Overturned, CAM Slams Meta for Double Standard Permitting Antisemitic Content

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has slammed Meta after it accepted its Oversight Board’s recommendation to end the ban on the use of the Arabic word “shaheed,” or “martyr” in English after a year-long review.

Previously, Meta removed any posts using “shaheed” in referring to people it designates on its list of “dangerous organizations and individuals,” which includes members of Islamist terrorist organizations, but in April its Oversight Board recommended that Meta overturn this decision.

“Unfortunately, while Meta uses a strategy called ‘remove, reduce, inform,’ to deal with problematic or violent content across the board, for violent language directed at the Jewish community it appears to have a completely unique strategy called ‘allow, tolerate and misinform,’” CEO of CAM Sacha Roytman said. “Once again, Meta has shown that it has double standards for the Jewish community which is facing a global tidal wave of antisemitism.”

“Social media platforms have been used as recruitment centers for terrorist organizations over the last few years, and social media companies should be working to prevent rather than assisting this process. We call on Meta senior officials to meet with CAM to understand our concerns and how ignoring rampant antisemitism online leads to violence and bloodshed off of it.”