Social media platforms have been awash in violent content and misinformation in the days since violence broke out in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. Users have been exposed to gruesome images of the violence without consent, and false information about attacks and responses by both sides have repeatedly been allowed to spread widely before they are taken down — if they are taken down at all.
“They actively seek to be the sources of information for the world, and particularly for our younger generations. Yet they give a platform for hate and misinformation, and then they hide behind the Constitution, which they likely have neither read nor studied,” said Adam Glinn, executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County.
According to Facebook, it has removed more than 800,000 pieces of content related to the violence that violated the platform’s guidelines, and TikTok has said it has taken down more than 500,000 videos.
Community leaders are urging social media companies to do more. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) joined local elected officials and Jewish community leaders in Edison on Monday to call on the social media companies to step up their efforts to combat dangerous, inflammatory and false rhetoric online.
