While this decision by the Oversight Board is a step in the right direction, it raises a number of red flags including how content is reviewed and rated and stresses the need for a thorough and transparent public audit of Facebook’s policies and actions regarding Palestine. Although Facebook restored the content, this is emblematic of Facebook’s systematic overenforcement of this Community Standard, particularly in relation to Arab and Muslim communities. Facebook initially removed the content after being reviewed by two content moderators for violating its Community Standard on Dangerous People and Organizations. On May 10, 2021, a Facebook user in Egypt shared a news item from news platform, Al Jazeera, which contained a threat of violence by a Qassam Brigades spokesperson. “We support the Board’s decision on this occasion, but demand accountability, transparency, and assurance that blatant censorship and disrespect for a people, a language, and a complex social context will never put us in this situation again.” “The details of the Oversight Board’s first MENA case affirms, once again, that Facebook’s arbitrary and non-transparent decisions are a feature, not a bug,” said Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy Manager at Access Now.
The Facebook Oversight Board’s latest decision on the platforms’s unjustified removal of news content related to the recent bout of violence in Palestine and Israel is welcomed, but not enough.
0 kommentar(er)
