Meta's oversight board on Wednesday reversed Facebook's decision to remove a meme that poked fun at the Democratic presidential ticket as a character from the hit movie “Dumb and Dumber.”
Facebook, led by Mark Zuckerberg, who famously censored the Post's coverage of Hunter Biden's laptop, changed the faces of Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to those of the 1994 movie star Jim Carrey. In August, he deleted a post that Photoshopped Jeff Daniels' face into it.
A doctored movie poster showing Harris and Waltz “grabbing each other's nipples over their clothes” was labeled as “derogatory sexual photoshopping and drawings,” according to a review by the oversight committee. was flagged for violating Facebook's anti-bullying and harassment policy, which prohibits .
The users appealed to an oversight board that reviews Meta's content moderation decisions. After being approached by the board, Mehta reinstated the post.
The oversight board that ruled that the anti-Israel phrase “from the river to the sea” did not constitute hate speech and caused the outage last month said Wednesday that the meme was “nothing more than a common satirical image of a prominent politician. , it immediately falls under the category of hate speech.” You can recognize it that way. ”
The message board did not publish the user's original post or the image of the meme, but similar versions of the meme matching the description were available online.
In the summary of the incidentThe board said the “excessive enforcement” of Mehta's bullying and harassment policies in the context of the election “led to excessive removal of political speech and undermined the ability to criticize government officials and political candidates, including with sarcasm. “There is a possibility,” he expressed concern. manner. ”
“Protecting the free speech rights of social media users is a core principle of the Oversight Board. The overwhelming majority of our decisions are to 'remain' or restore content removed by meta. ” Oversight Committee Co-Chairman Michael McConnell said in a statement.
“Platforms should be places where political discussion and debate thrives, especially during periods of elections, protests, and other social movements,” McConnell added. “The board remains accountable to Meta for ensuring that its policies and enforcement are fairly applied.”
The Oversight Board issued a “summary decision” on the matter, which was described as an example of “Meta reversing an original decision regarding content after the board brought the content to their attention.”
When reached for comment, a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the company had reinstated the post.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “We accidentally deleted this post, but we restored it after the problem was brought to our attention.”
Meta has come under heavy criticism in recent years for its content moderation practices.
In August, Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris administration had pressured Facebook to curb coronavirus-related content, including hilarious memes and satire, at the height of the pandemic, and offered a statement of remorse. The statement caused an uproar.
Elsewhere, an advisory board that receives funding from Meta but claims to be independent has recently faced questions about its impartiality.
The Post reported that several members of the 21-member board espoused views critical of Israel's actions in Gaza in recent years.
An advisory committee decided last month that Facebook and Instagram users can use the slogan “From River to Sea” as long as it does not glorify Hamas or call for violence.
The slogan refers to the idea of a Palestinian state extending across the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, land currently controlled by Israel.
Several prominent Jewish organizations condemned the board's decision. The Movement to Combat Antisemitism called the decision “ridiculous” and said it would fuel the spread of antisemitism online.
