The panel says the phrase, often used in solidarity with Palestinians, does not violate the platform's rules on hate speech.
Meta’s independent oversight board has ruled that the phrase “from the river to the sea,” often used in solidarity with Palestinians, does not in itself violate the company’s current policies.
Wednesday's decision by the panel, which makes final decisions on the platform's content moderation, came after reviewing three posts and comes amid a broader debate over the phrase, which has been used prominently by protesters in solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel's nearly 11-month war in Gaza.
It refers to the geographical area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“In upholding Meta’s decision to retain the content, the Board majority notes that the phrase has multiple meanings and people use it in a variety of ways and with different intentions,” the panel said.
“Specifically, all three pieces of content contain contextual signs of solidarity with Palestinians, but no language calling for violence or exclusion,” he added.
The decision came as the number of Palestinians killed in the war rose to 40,861. The United Nations has said more than 90 percent of the population has been displaced, leading to a humanitarian and health crisis. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel in Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7.
Israeli officials and pro-Israel groups have accused the phrase of being a veiled call for violence and have called it an “anti-Semitic” call for the elimination of Judaism. However, some Israeli officials have used versions of the phrase’s geographical reference to call for full Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian territory.
Meta’s supervisory board said a minority of its members felt that after the start of the war, use of the phrase in a publication should be presumed to glorify Hamas – the Palestinian group that led the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel – and violence “unless there are clear signs to the contrary.”
Palestinians and their supporters have framed the phrase as a call for self-determination and freedom after decades of Israeli occupation and for the rights of Palestinians living in historic Palestine, a land now divided between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory following the 1948 Nakba, or catastrophe, that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel's creation.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in November, Nimer Sultany, a professor of law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, explained that much of the debate has revolved around the word “free”.
He described the adjective as expressing “the need for equality for all inhabitants of historic Palestine.”
“Those who support apartheid and Jewish supremacy will find the egalitarian chant objectionable,” Sultany, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, told Al Jazeera.
“This remains the crux of the problem: the continued denial of Palestinians to live in equality, freedom and dignity like everyone else,” Sultany said.
In a statement, Meta said: “We welcome the board’s review of our guidance on this matter.”
“While all of our policies are developed with security in mind, we recognize that they involve global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside of Meta, including the Oversight Board,” the company said.
