Facebook Removes Page of Group Targeting Orthodox Jews in New Jersey

(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. said it has removed a page that directed incendiary comments toward a fast-growing Hasidic Jewish population in New Jersey.

The state Attorney General’s Office had complained for 10 months about the page of a group called Rise Up Ocean County. Rachel Wainer Apter, director of the office’s civil-rights division, had “concerns about racist and anti-Semitic statements on the page,” according to a statement.

Lakewood, home to one of the world’s largest yeshivas, is among New Jersey’s fastest-growing municipalities. Some homeowners in surrounding towns in recent years have led a movement to resist selling to Hasidim, saying their insular culture clashes with that of non-Jews.

Facebook reviewed the page periodically, according to Daniel Roberts, a company spokesman.

“Upon further review we have determined this page violates our community standards for hate speech and have removed it from the platform,” Roberts said in an email.

In a joint statement, Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said they “appreciate that Facebook has now decided that this kind of hateful rhetoric has no place on its platform.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman, Bob Ivry

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