Facebook has come under sharp criticism after allegations that it hosted terrorist propaganda celebrating the murder of Jews and praising the Islamic State (IS), even days after being alerted to the content.
The accusations were raised by the Community Security Trust (CST), a leading UK-based organisation that monitors antisemitism and extremism.
Posts praising Bondi beach attack flagged
According to the CST, several posts celebrating the Bondi beach terrorist attack remained active on Facebook for at least two days after the December 14 incident. One post, which included a video showing the aftermath of the attack, reportedly carried the caption “Allah is the greatest and praise to Allah” and attracted significant engagement in the form of likes, comments and shares.
The CST said such content amounts to explicit glorification of terrorism and antisemitic violence, raising serious concerns about moderation standards on major social media platforms.
Meta says content removed after contact
Responding to media queries, Meta, which owns Facebook, said it had begun removing some of the flagged posts after being contacted by The Guardian.
A Meta spokesperson stated that the content was taken down for violating company policies on “dangerous organisations and individuals”.
However, CST Director of Policy Dave Rich said the removals came too late and did not address the scale of the problem.
“Deeply alarming”, says CST
“The sheer volume of IS-supporting accounts promoting terrorist content on Facebook is deeply alarming,” Rich said. He described posts celebrating the Bondi attack as “utterly nauseating” and warned that failures by social media companies could place the public at risk.
Rich added that platforms have a basic responsibility to prevent their services from being used to promote terrorism and hatred.
Call for regulator to step in
The CST has urged Ofcom to urgently investigate Meta’s alleged failings and take firm action where possible.
Ofcom said platforms are legally required to assess reported content and remove it swiftly if it breaches UK law. The regulator also noted that evidence suggests terrorist material and illegal hate speech continue to persist on some of the world’s largest social media sites.
The controversy comes amid heightened concern over rising extremist threats and antisemitic targeting of Jewish communities in several Western countries.