Meta’s Oversight Board rules ban on Islamic term harms free speech

FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM’s PARENT COMPANY — META —

it’S INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT BOARD RECOMMENDED ENDING THE BROAD BAN ON THE ARABIC WORD ‘SHAHEED‘ AFTER A YEAR-LONG REVIEW.

THIS TERM is used to reference ‘ISLAMIC MARTYRS’ BUT CAN MEAN ‘TO BEAR WITNESS’ OR ‘TESTIFY’ IN ARABIC…

and it WAS FOUND TO EXCESSIVELY LIMIT POSTS FROM MILLIONS OF USERS.

ACCORDING TO THE BOARD — META’S CURRENT APPROACH “DISPROPORTIONATELY” RESTRICTS FREE EXPRESSION.

‘SHAHEED’ ACCOUNTS FOR MORE CONTENT REMOVAL THAN ANY OTHER WORD OR PHRASE ACROSS ALL OF ITS PLATFORMS.

CRITICISM OF THE DECISION TO CENSOR THE WORD INCREASED SINCE THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS ESCALATED IN OCTOBER.

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS ACCUSED SOCIAL MEDIA GIANT OF CENSORING SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS.

ACCORDING TO META, EXTREMISTS USE ‘SHAHEED’ TO GLORIFY ACTS OF TERRORISM — HOWEVER — THE COMPANY FAILED TO ACCOUNT FOR THE VARIETY OF MEANINGS THE WORD CARRIES WHICH DO NOT GLORIFY OR CONVEY THE APPROVAL OF MARTYRDOM.

META’S OVERSIGHT CO-CHAIR SAID THE DECISION TO CENSOR WORDS ALIENATES COMMUNITIES WITHOUT ENHANCING SAFETY, ADDING:

“Meta has been operating under the assumption — that censorship can and will improve safety — but the evidence suggests that censorship can marginalize whole populations while not improving safety at all.”

A SPOKESPERSON FOR META SAID THE COMPANY WILL REVIEW THE FEEDBACK AND RESPOND WITHIN 60 DAYS TO ACCEPT OR DENY THE POLICY RECOMMENDATION.