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'Dear Mr. Zuckerberg'

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Online petition urges Facebook
co-founder to remove hateful anti-
Semitic pages.

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Robin Schwartz
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Deer Mr

Sunday, March 30, 2014 - 11:00am-1:00pm

Zuckerberg.

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PAGE 1

FACEBOONS

COMMUNITY StANDARDS.

ADDITIONAL DROP—OFF SITES

Facebook members with
pages that denounce
N.-
Israel, spread hateful
messages about Jews
Z n'Zs:fzg
'
and deny the Holocaust.
'
The Anti-Defamation
League and a growing number
of fed-up individuals are calling on
the social network's co-founder Mark
Zuckerberg to remove anti-Semitic
pages and change the website's com-
munity standards.
The 30-year-old became a billionaire
when he helped create Facebook in
2004. According to published reports,
Zuckerberg was raised Jewish, but has
since become an atheist.
"Anti-Semitism is once again
on the rise in our society. Jews are
attacked everywhere, and Facebook
is no exception," reads an online
petition currently signed by more
than 19,000 people.
"The number of anti-Semite [and
anti-Zionist] pages are growing by
the minute it continues. "Despite
the option to report these pages,
most reports are ignored. The pages
and photos that are allowed are vile,
horrific, hateful and filled with clas-
sic anti-Semitism and Jewish stereo-
types. By allowing these pages, we
believe that Facebook is actively sup-
porting the spread of anti-Semitism,
and we DEMAND that something
is done about this. Change the
Community Standards and stop the
hate NOW!"
The petition and a page called
"Dear Mr. Zuckerberg" were started
in February by a Swedish art direc-
tor named Anna Berg, who is Jewish.
Via email, she told the Detroit Jewish
News why she started this campaign.
"My idea to do this actually start-
ed about a year ago after reporting
many anti-Semitic pages and photos
on Facebook that weren't removed
despite their so-called 'community
standards, which do not allow hate
speech," she said. "When you start
looking for these pages, it's quite dis-
gusting to see the hate and the vile
content that is posted and allowed:'

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Berg also
has organized two
pro-Israel rallies in Stockholm in
recent years. She says she's received
threats and hate mail as a result of
her efforts, but also a lot of heartfelt
thank-yous from supporters.

Signing On

Alison Schwartz, 49, of West
Bloomfield is one of the local mem-
bers of the Jewish community who
signed the online petition. The public
relations agency vice president is
originally from London, England, but
has lived in Metro Detroit for the last
15 years with her husband, Dave, and
three sons, Michael, 19, William, 16,
and Teddy, 10.
"My father was
born in Austria, and
as a young child fled
with his family to
Shanghai, China,
the only country
accepting Austrian
Jews just before
Alison
the war:' Schwartz
Schwartz
explains. "Sadly,
the vast majority
of the family were not lucky enough
to escape and died in concentration
camps; my father's family was deci-
mated by anti-Semitism. I feel very
strongly that I want to stand up and
say, 'No!' to the hate?'
Because people posting on social
media sites like Facebook and Twitter
can hide behind a cloak of anonymity,
Schwartz adds, they have the ability to
write terrible things about others often
without repercussions.
"I deeply admire Anna Berg:' she
says. "I know this story is being cov-
ered by Jewish publications around

Zuckerberg on page 10