FACEBOOK, WE NEED TO TALK was a 2021 campaign organized by an international coalition of 55 organizations, including 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, the BDS Movement, MPower Change, Adalah Justice Project, Eyewitness Palestine, Palestine Legal, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
The campaign successfully demanded that Facebook NOT submit to pressure from the Israeli government to equate "Zionist" with "Jew" in its hate speech policy — a move that would have made "Zionist" a de facto protected category. You can read about why this policy would have been so harmful to Palestinians, Jews, and all who want to hold the Israeli government accountable on the microsite I designed and co-wrote.
After a social media launch, 4 virtual events hosted by different communities impacted by the policy, a Twitterstorm and Twitter town hall, and attention from major media outlets and influential public figures, the campaign gathered over 50,000 signatures on a petition to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. On a coordinated Global Day of Action, coalition members delivered the petition to Facebook offices in 17 cities around the world. The campaign was ultimately victorious, as Facebook decided not to add "Zionist" to its hate speech policy.
Working with JVP's Senior Communications Manager, I was the main storyteller and designer for the campaign. I led the campaign's successful social media strategy and visual identity design, and I and produced all of the visual deliverables — from social media graphics to promote the campaign and educate people about Facebook's potential policy, to a microsite that contextualized the campaign within the broader struggle against antisemitism and for Palestinian freedom, to printed signs and banners held by people who delivered the petition around the world. I was also very involved in the development of the campaign's messaging, particularly in the writing of the copy on the microsite and all of the social media posts.
​
In designing the campaign's visual identity, I researched Facebook's own branding and interface as well as the type of content that has been and would be censored on their platform. The signature motif of the visual identity became the orange hazard exclamation point symbol that Facebook uses to denote violations of its community standards. I used this symbol as a logo, a counter (see "6 things Facebook needs to know about Zionists"), punctuation, a favicon, and more. I loved how it so clearly and quickly reminded people of times their posts have been censored on Facebook and how it evoked a sense of emphatic and urgent concern.
​
​
SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS AND POSTS
GLOBAL PETITION DELIVERY
