In a press conference held with elected officials and Jewish community leaders on Oct. 16, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ 6th District) called on social media platforms X, Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Telegram to take immediate action to remove graphic and violent content and disinformation from their platforms. He challenged the platforms to “vigorously enforce their terms of service, immediately remove content that violates those terms, and permanently ban any user that intentionally attempts to spread or broadcast acts of terror, violence or extremism.”
Pallone is the top-ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees federal technology policies and social media companies.
In a release about the press conference, Pallone cited this example of graphic content spread by social media: “CNN and other outlets have reported that an Israeli grandmother’s murder by Hamas militants was photographed by her executioners and posted to her Facebook account. Her grandson told CNN that the video appeared in his news feed and likely the news feed of her friends and family because it was uploaded from her own account.”
The release also shared these two examples of disinformation:
- A viral post on X purporting to show Israeli military engagements in Gaza was debunked as clips from a violent video game.
- A doctored memo circulated on social media stated that President Joe Biden was sending $8 billion in military assistance to Israel. The memo being circulated was altered from an original order on July 25 that authorized $400 million to Ukraine.
Congressman Pallone stated to The Jewish Link: “The heinous content we’ve seen circulating on social media platforms in the wake of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel is an affront to the victims and their families. It’s past time that Congress holds Big Tech accountable for the extreme, often violent content flooding their platforms. Social media companies are seemingly incapable of acting responsibly, maintaining a fully supported content moderation staff, or enforcing their own terms of service. It’s patently unacceptable, and I’m determined to hold these companies accountable—social media platforms must not be allowed to become agents of terrorism.”
Commenting on Pallone’s initiative, Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ’s Executive Director Susan Antman stated to The Jewish Link: “As our brothers and sisters in Israel respond following Hamas’s brutal attack, here at home the Jewish Federation leads our community’s humanitarian response for those whose lives are forever changed. We applaud and we join Congressman Pallone for demanding social media platforms do their part to take action against violent content and disinformation about Israel. It is essential to truly winning the war on terror.”
Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected].
