Facebook Oversight Board Reinstates Controversial Videos Of Middle East Conflict

Facebook has been accused in recent weeks of demoting or blocking content on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, sparking outrage in both Israeli and Palestinian communities while drawing accusations of censorship. And now, Facebook’s own semi-independent Oversight Board has weighed in on the side of those concerned users. According to the Board, Facebook’s automated content moderation tools went too far and removed violent posts related to the conflict that users should have been able to see.

The cases, which involved video of an Israeli hostage and Palestinian casualties of an airstrike, was the Board’s first expedited ruling, taking 12 days rather than the usual 90. According to the Board, both videos were removed because Facebook had “lowered the bar” for flagging violent and graphic content, hate speech, incitement, bullying and harassment related to the conflict.

“This meant that Meta used its automated tools more aggressively to remove content that might violate its policies,” the Board said in its decision. “While this reduced the likelihood that Meta would fail to remove violating content that might otherwise evade detection or where capacity for human review was limited, it also increased the likelihood of Meta mistakenly removing non-violating content related to the conflict.”

Thankfully, Facebook agreed to the Board’s ruling and reinstated the posts, though it has slapped a warning label on them and demoted them in users’ feeds. And while that’s a step in the right direction, it’s still troubling that Facebook has so much power to control what news users are allowed to see.




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