Republican AGs Demand Meta’s Answers in Content Moderation Policies on October 7

First on Fox — At least a dozen Republican state attorneys general from across the United States signed a letter to Meta platforms Legal Director Jennifer Newstead demands answers about the company’s actions following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel.

“We, the 12 undersigned prosecutors, write to express our serious concerns regarding recent allegations regarding Meta’s actions following the massacre and terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 in Israel,” said the letter, sent to Meta a day after the second anniversary of the attacks.

the Public defenders They are calling on Newstead to provide Meta’s most up-to-date policies on depictions of violence and incitement, as well as any other relevant policies. Newstead is also asked to describe the “remedial efforts,” if any, Meta took after the Oct. 7 attacks. Additionally, the prosecutor asked Newstead to detail any other steps Meta has taken to prevent unlawful violence from being displayed on its platforms.

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Prosecutors have asked Newsted to file a response to the letter by November 10, 2025.

The attorneys general who signed the letter are Alan Wilson of South Carolina, Brenna Byrd of Iowa, Steve Marshall of Alabama, Tim Griffin of Arkansas, James Othmeier of Florida, Todd Rokita of Indiana, Gentner Drummond of Oklahoma, Katherine Hanaway of Missouri, Austin Knudsen of Montana, Mike Hilgers of Nebraska, Marty Jackley of South Dakota, and Ken Paxton of Texas.

Current Meta Policy — which has been changed several times since the attacks — says it removes “threats of violence against various targets.” It defines threats of violence as “statements or images that represent an intent, aspiration or call for violence against a target. Threats can be expressed in different types of statements such as statements of intent, calls to action, advocacy, expressions of hope, aspirational statements and conditional statements.”

Additionally, Meta says on its website that it protects users from “depictions of kidnapping or kidnapping” and depictions of “severe or moderate intensity violence.”

“Hamas is banned from our platforms, and we remove content that supports and glorifies it and the October 7 terrorist attacks,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business. “In the wake of the attacks, we formed dedicated teams that worked around the clock to address and remove content that violated our policies, while ensuring that our platforms could be used to condemn Hamas and raise awareness of its victims and the hostages still being held in Gaza.”

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The Meta spokesperson also noted that the company then set up a special operations center staffed by fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers who can monitor the situation in real time, allowing for faster removal of sensitive content. The spokesperson said that in the three days following the attacks, the company removed or flagged more than 795,000 pieces of content that violated its policies or were flagged as spam.

The message comes after families October 7 victims She filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the company’s platforms played a role in distributing videos showing atrocities.

In the lawsuit, loved ones of the victims allege that Meta intentionally enabled the distribution of live and recorded videos of atrocities, such as murder and hostage-taking. According to CTechan Israeli technology news outlet. Prosecutors added that this turned Facebook and Instagram into “an integral part of the terrorist attack on Israel.”

“If the plaintiff’s and victims’ allegations are true, it is difficult to see how Meta met her own standards,” the prosecutor wrote in the letter to Newsted.

One of the plaintiffs is Moore Bidder, who saw the horrific video of her grandmother’s murder on Facebook after desperately trying to reach her, according to CTech. After failing to reach her grandmother, Bracha Levinson, who was a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, Baider searched social media for answers, the newspaper said. Instead, she found the violent video on the platform.

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“For many hours, in real time and long after the terrorist attack, horrific documents from the attack were published (to put it mildly), showing innocent civilians — children, the elderly, women and men — being subjected to atrocities that even paper cannot bear to describe,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote, according to CTech.

Aidan’s family, also included in the lawsuit, alleges that the murder of 22-year-old Mayan Aidan and the kidnapping of her father, Tsachi, were accidents. Live broadcast on FacebookAccording to CTech, which noted that Tzachi was later killed in captivity.

FOX Business has reached out to the law firm representing the plaintiffs for comment.