At times I think I have reached my limit dealing with online hatred, especially Jew Hatred. I have viewed so many nasty comments under posts about Israel, especially posts about IDF soldiers who died, or under articles published in national news services, or articles about Jewish people in general, not even Israeli.
While the article itself might be positive, or perhaps sad about someone who died, the comments are often horrendous. AI graphics showing Jews looking similar to propaganda from the Nazi era. Spewing hatred for the death of a Jew and wishing all Jews would die. Spreading false information. Calling for the mass murder of Jews throughout the world.
I report them all. I take screen shots of those comments, and as I get messages from META, I checked to see what evilness they are still allowing to stay on Facebook or Instagram. I honestly cannot believe the ones that they say do not go against their community standards!
They ALMOST ALWAYS DENY any post I tag goes against the community standards the first time I report it, except for one that was so violent and horrific, it came down immediately. I was even thanked for helping them get it off social media, and if I ever saw anything like it again, I should immediately contact them.
Over my three years of reporting only eight posts I reported actually have been taken down, the one I mentioned and seven others, but those came after I sent it back for review. Honestly, I send every single one I report back for review. You can see in the above image that I actually got another horrible Jew Hating comment taken down in June. I put it here so you can see that it does happen!!! Sometimes the hate is so bad that they cannot leave it up.
An additional nine times I was told I can go to the oversight board. I have attempted to do that several times. In fact, I received one of these invitations last week. I was trying to decide whether to take the time to do it, as sometimes I think it just goes into an abyss, since nothing seems to change.
Since the Jew Hatred is so filled of vitriol these days, I decided I had to send a report to the oversight board. I let them know exactly what I believed about their continuing to let Jew Hatred be present on META social media platforms. I wrote that Facebook was created for people to keep in touch with friends, not to be overwhelmed by hatred. That this was morally and ethically wrong, and that it needed to end. That hate speech was not free speech when it led to violence. And that the many, many instances of online Jew Hatred was leading to violence.
I tell everyone I know to keep reporting. I was recently at an event for older retired Jewish women, where a speaker spoke about online Jew Hatred and how she works to get these horrible posts offline. I then reminded them that we as Jews are small in number, just 16 million worldwide. If we want to make an impact, we all must work together. I told them how to report a comment or image, by clinking on the three little dots on the right of a comment. That they must use them to report! Click on the 3 dots; then click the part that says report this comment, this photo, etc.; then go ahead and report it as spreading violence or hate!!!
There are several groups on social media working to stop online Jew hatred. Some are asking us to report the Jew Hatred. There are two that I know of: CyberWell and Digital Dome. Also Combat Anti-Semitism works to stop this hatred. It doesn’t hurt to report what you are seeing. And it might help. This is a job that every Jewish person who is online should be doing.
If we do not speak up and work against Jew Hatred we are part of the problem. In the 1930s many were afraid to say anything, while others did stand up to hate. We have learned our lessons. Never stay silent when hate is around.
At the same time, META must realize that leaving these expressions of Jew Hatred online opens the door to all others hate speech directed at other racial groups and, as we have seen, the LGBTQ and immigrant communities. No hate speech should be tolerated online. These are private companies, they have the right to eliminate anything they don’t think is right. And they promise to provide a safe place for users!
I have read that some consider the Jew Hatred like the canary in the mine. When the bird dies, you know that is bad air. When online Jew Hatred gets this bad, perhaps it is the end of social media and a wake up call to all other groups to stop it.
Dante wrote in The Inferno: “The darkest place in Hell is reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis”
Don’t stay silent. Speak out against online hate speech of any kind.
zicharonot 