Facebook’s tolerance for far-right voices and Zionist propaganda on its pages and profiles is not new. It selectively penalizes Palestinian voices while simultaneously allowing genocidal narratives to be aired with impunity. This has been underlined in assessments by the Human Rights Watch, which is part of the social media platform’s unenviable profile as a cesspool for anti-Palestinian bigotry.

Another more glaring aspect of the social media giant’s pro-Israeli advocacy on its platform questions its purported status of bringing the world closer and seeking to build a global community.

That aspect is Facebook’s deliberate profiteering, revenue generation, and funding from its promotion of Israeli settlement advertisements. This amounts to flagrant violations of international law, crass complicity, apparent collusion, and appeasement of 21st-century apartheid in the occupied West Bank.

Why Facebook is an Abettor of Apartheid

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has promoted more than 100 advertisements, including listings for property developments in Israeli settlements. These ads also include promotions of far-right settler activities, such as by the Hilltop Youth, an extremist Haredi youth settler group notorious for firing on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Property listings promoted on Facebook include promotions for the notorious settlement of Ariel, spanning 30 km, and is a locality that prevents Palestinian land owners from rightfully accessing several enclaves of privately owned land within its borders. Furthermore, Facebook’s pro-Israeli advertisement includes calls to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, hospitals, and children's care centers, while others seek donations for the occupation forces to continue with their harrowing genocide in Gaza.  

The total profits that Facebook has amassed (which is difficult to ascertain as Meta does not release detailed breakdowns of its earnings from advertisements), amounts to quite a few million dollars and involves promoting entire Facebook pages, such as the Ramat Aderet page which advertises luxurious living and amenities for potential clients on occupied land. Many of the potential clientele include customers residing in the United Kingdom, the United States, and "Israel" itself. However, Facebook has remained notably defiant to criticism of its settlement promotion campaigns and has instead sought to unabashedly defend its platform for promoting content, with justifications on how such content is promoted through automated technology and undergoes robust processes.

Facebook is a Brazen Violator of International Law

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None of this is on merit.

Facebook’s defiance, its unequivocal defense of promoting pro-settlement ads, and its calls for further entrenching the decades-long occupation stand in stark contrast to the consensus view of the international community on the Israeli settlement enterprise. The majority, barring states like "Israel" itself, considers settlements to be a brazen violation of international law. In essence, the promotion of settlements disregards Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars an occupying power from making demographic changes or settling its own population into occupied territory. Also, Facebook has ignored Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, which clearly states that countries such as "Israel" must respect the laws of territories it occupies, such as the West Bank, which also applies to laws governing property rights. By promoting settlement advertisements, however, Facebook is essentially violating every clause in every convention by calling for the uninhibited construction and funding of Israeli settlements.

This, along with countless UN Security Council resolutions and arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court condemning Israeli settlements, clearly indicates that they are illegal and are being promoted by a fascist state that brazenly disregards international law. It also affirms that Facebook’s promotion of Israeli settlements allows the latter to upend any lawful criticism of its apartheid in the West Bank and invest more by reaching out to potential investors and customers.

For Facebook, this should ideally ring alarm bells and result in a changed course of action. Instead, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platform has chosen to become an accomplice, a financier, and an abettor to crimes against humanity.

By failing to take down ads and earning millions of dollars in profits from them, Meta/ Facebook is not only flouting international covenants and resolutions that guard the sovereignty of Palestine, but is also violating its own domestic policies. This includes its own internal policy of prohibiting the sale of weapons, ammunition, and explosives to states, entities, and militaries, let alone genocidal regimes and the promotion of such weapons, explosives, and ammunition.

This constitutes hypocrisy and double standards.

Hence, to turn a blind eye to Facebook's role in promoting genocide and apartheid is not only criminal but morally reprehensible. This is precisely why MPs from the United Kingdom, a country which played and continues to play a key role in sustaining "Israel’s" illegal occupation and crimes against humanity, such as Brian Leishman, have expressed deep concern.   

Justifications to Take Action

Homes on occupied lands are being advertised on a platform that claims to bridge differences instead of promoting polarization and are from the playbook of far-right, genocidal ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich, who approved an expansion plan for settlements in March 2024, which allows their construction by skirting any political or military approvals.

Facebook’s advocacy for Israeli settlements also comes as the Netanyahu regime seeks to annex Palestine and expel Palestinians from land which they rightfully own. Donald Trump’s approval of far-right voices on social media platforms such as Truth Social also creates an enabling environment for Zionism to thrive, with Facebook following suit.

The key, hence, lies in filing lawsuits against Facebook and holding Zuckerberg’s company accountable for financial corruption. Otherwise, genocide will be advertised and apartheid will be normalized.