NOTE:
Please add your name to this Rabbinic letter that will go to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg imploring them to make the necessary changes to their platform to reduce antisemitism and hate on their platform.

**Deadline Extended to Friday, September 11th.**


Dear Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg:

We represent a diverse group of Rabbis from across the country, representing every major Jewish denomination as well as unaffiliated Rabbis. We have come together to appeal to you because antisemitism, hatred and disinformation online threaten the safety, dignity and rights of our congregants and communities. Antisemitic hate groups and neo-Nazis are flourishing online and promoting hateful ideology -- including Holocaust denial -- to vast audiences. Coordinated disinformation efforts by conspiracy theorists and a host of bad actors are using your platforms to promote hate, to sow division and to undermine and suppress votes.

As the architects of the largest communications system in human history, you bear a responsibility to use the capacity that you have to reduce the influence of hate, disinformation and harassment. Jewish tradition gives guidance for conditions where we lack adequate laws or norms. Rabbi Hillel is quoted in the Mishnah saying, "In a place where no one is standing up for what’s right, strive to be that person." (Avot 2:5) This is taken to mean that we should replace inertia and indifference with decency, courage, and character. Where laws are not yet formed, our tradition calls on us to take upon ourselves the highest moral standard and to proactively mitigate injustice or harm. The resulting self-reflection and individual action often evolved into norms and laws.

In that spirit, we have joined across every major Jewish denomination to appeal to you in unison to use the ability you have to take proactive action. While lawmakers and leaders grapple with policy challenges, you have the immediate and powerful ability to protect the safety and civil rights of our community and others. Below are four of the most critical, common sense actions you can and should take immediately.

1. Stop rewarding sensational, shocking, extreme content. The platform inherently fuels incitement, extremism, chaos and social division. Your own internal inquiry found that your algorithms, especially the recommendation features, are responsible for the growth of extremist groups online. They effectively build echo chambers for violent hatred. You claim to have been able to demote other content such as organic posts with false or harmful COVID-19 claims. Why treat Holocaust denial or violent hatred differently?

2. Tap expertise to help understand antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and other dangerous content so it can be tagged effectively and examined.  Bring more eyes in to increase accountability -- better ad transparency, better view of what is being shared organically, and share your own research which found that your algorithms help grow extremist groups, especially through the recommendation features.

3. Commit to common sense reforms to counter radicalization and hate. These might include:
Aggressively finding  and removing public and private groups focused on white supremacy, militia, antisemitism, violent conspiracies, Holocaust denial, health misinformation, and climate denialism.

   *Stop recommending or amplifying content from groups associated with hate, misinformation or conspiracies
     to users;
   *Enable victims of severe hate and harassment to connect with a live employee who is empowered to resolve
     the issue.
   *Commit to warn organizations and leaders targeted by hate proactively in real time. Given the prevalence of
     online hate and harassment, platforms should offer far more services and tools for individuals facing online
     attack.

4. Protect democracy and the vote by removing voting misinformation and calls to violence, with no exception, treating every advertiser and every figure the same. Stop holding political figures to a lower standard than everyone else.

We cannot regulate hate out of existence. But we have a moral duty to ensure that we are not legitimizing, enabling or providing a safe haven for antisemitism and allowing hateful extremists  to target communities, destabilize society by sowing division, violence and chaos.  

Half measures are not sufficient. Inaction allows the continued proliferation of extremism, hate and incitement of violence. It protects a status quo that threatens our communities and the integrity of our democracy.

Sincerely,