The Rabbinical Assembly is spearheading an effort to provide rabbis with an opportunity to take a stand against the hate that was on display in Charlottesville and that is still flourishing. After years of hearing congregants' concerns about antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and disinformation online, we are banding together to hold Facebook, the largest of the social media platforms, accountable for their inaction.
Social media companies are the gatekeepers of today’s “public square.” But unfortunately they have grown into a breeding ground for antisemitism, racism, hatred, extremism and disinformation.
Facebook is designed to sensationalize antisemitism, extremism and divisive hate, but refuses oversight that offers a glimpse of its algorithms. Here are ten ways that Facebook and other platforms promote hate.
As a result, a dangerous and violent eco-system has gone unchecked in the name of ‘free speech.’ Facebook’s own internal reviews found that 64 percent of all extremist group joins come from recommendation tools. Most of the activity came from the platform’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” algorithms. Of 221 known white supremacist organizations, more than half—51%, or 113 groups—have a presence on Facebook.
Further, as tens of millions of Americans took to the streets for racial justice, online disinformation targeted Black Lives Matter to disrupt their activities and taint them with dangerous conspiracy theories. Bad actors use false accounts and pose as BLM activists to promote lies, such as:
- A fake hashtag #AWAN (all whites are Nazis) which saw 7000 posts in 12 hours on just one day along with 80 graphic images from 4Chan trolls.
- Lies of planned violence: weapons & bricks made available to protesters, fake reports of damage to DC memorials, and reports of planned violent protests in small cities.
While leaders and lawmakers grapple with the legal and policy challenges, an industry driven by growth and profit wields awesome power over the norms of discourse -- with little transparency and oversight.
The companies have the ability to reduce the influence of this hate right now. This rabbinic letter calls on Facebook, by far the largest enabler, to take common sense action to protect Jews, and other communities and individuals targeted by hate.
Click here to sign the letter.
For more information and background research, contact Laurie Moskowitz.