OPINION: Why Facebook must take greater action against hate
By Andrea Cohen and Bev Myers
Facebook – Say No to Hatebook was founded on 5 April 2014 by a group of old BBYO friends from around the world who were concerned by the virulent hate pages on Facebook.
Facebook’s official mission statement is to make the world more open and connected. To stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.
Unfortunately there is a sinister side to Facebook, where a few spread prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or a disability, in an unrestricted place and pour forth vitriolic hatred without fear of being hindered or gagged, still less arrested.
Our group’s mission statement is very simple: Facebook is meant to be about friends. About sharing news, banter, memories and opinions. It can be about opinions and views. But it is never meant to be about hatred. It is never meant to be about attacking an individual or group because of their race, religion, gender, disability, sexuality or other trait.
And this group is about opposing hatred. But more than that, it is about making Facebook responsible for prohibiting hatred on its pages. It is not enough for Facebook to claim to have a policy of prohibiting offensive material and then failing to put such a policy into action; it has a duty to act.
Facebook makes enormous profits – it is a business and is entitled to do that. But with that profit comes a responsibility to ensure that it is never used for racial, religious or homophobic or other prejudice. The members of this group are committed to fighting the misuse of Facebook and to making Facebook fight hatred.
The response to this simple message was incredible; almost 9000 members joined within a few weeks. Facebook – Say No to Hatebook has no political agenda and is determined to prevent hate speech targeted at any religion, race, colour, sexuality, disability or gender.
This makes it unique as most similar groups focus on only one minority group, whereas the membership of Facebook – Say No to Hatebook reflects the diverse community it supports. Attempts to promote any specific political agenda are actively discouraged and removed.
The group was recently nominated for the National Diversity Awards 2014 and has so far received over 111 votes.
Members of the group identify pages, individual posts, and photographs that promote hate on Facebook in the hope of getting them removed.
Such pages include, for example, ‘Jewish Ritual Murders’, ‘Crooks with Hooks’, ‘Death to Islam’, ‘Allah is Shit’ and ‘DTQ Death to Queers’ which contain very graphic hateful depictions of Jews, Muslims or the LGBT community. Other pages target people with disabilities.
Facebook has official Community Standards which enables individuals to report distasteful or prejudiced posts, photographs and pages, but in reality neglects to enforce them. Facebook have made the following statement on the subject:
“Facebook does not permit hate speech, but distinguishes between serious and humorous speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events, and practices, we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.”
Depictions of Jews as greedy or untruthful, often depicted with antisemitic cartoon pictures of stereotypical Jews, are common on Facebook. References to Islam as a religion which advocates paedophilia and violence, with images of sexual activity involving a cartoon-image of Mohammed and a pig are found elsewhere.
Yet Facebook refuses to acknowledge they offend even their own standards. To date, around 300 pages and over 1000 individual offensive posts and photographs have been removed, but the experience of the group is that the volume of reports, rather than the content of the page, is what leads to successful removal. Furthermore, many pages are replicated within hours of being taken down and Facebook does nothing to prevent this.
Our group members have also successfully lobbied their MPs with the aim of bringing this issue to the attention of Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. To date, despite many requests, both direct and through MPs, Facebook has refused to meet with our administration team to discuss our concerns.
We have a Facebook page and website where prospective members can request to be added to the group, or you can email saynotohatebook@gmail.com. Sadly, our group has to be classified as ‘secret’ to protect the members from attacks from the offensive Facebookers who we strive to remove.
There is also a Twitter account @opposehatepages, which the group uses to notify celebrities and politicians of hate pages referring to those individuals.
Join our campaign to protect minorities from vile hate and abuse on Facebook, and help it become the place of friendship, networking and fun its creators designed it to be.
- You can nominate Say No to Hatebook in the National Diversity Awards until this Friday, 18th July. Click here!
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
