The word, which translates as ‘martyr’, is responsible for more content removals on the company’s platform than any other word.
metaGoogle’s oversight board says it will review moderation of the Arabic word “shaheed,” which means “martyr” in English, after it removed more content than any other single word or phrase on the company’s platform. is responsible for.
Oversight Board Administration Director Thomas Hughes said on Thursday it was “a complex moderation issue” that “affects the way millions of people express themselves online”.
Hughes said that the removal of a large number of content raises the question of “whether Muslim and Arabic-speaking communities are subject to over-enforcement of their content due to Meta’s enforcement practices”.
“Martyr” has several meanings in Arabic, including “witness” to an event, and is often used to refer to those who have died in sacrifice for a holy cause.
The META policy prohibits praise, support or representation of entities or individuals designated as dangerous or “terrorism” lists, including many Palestinian groups that oppose Israel’s decades-long occupation.
Meta, whose services include Facebook The board said that and Instagram has sought advice from the Oversight Board on whether it should consider “martyr” as a compliment and continue to remove posts that use the term to refer to individuals designated as dangerous. use or use a different approach.
Moderating the term could have an impact on news reporting in Arabic-speaking countries, the board noted, and invited public comments to aid its deliberations.
The oversight board was created in late 2020 to review Facebook and Instagram’s decisions to block or retain certain content and maintain or reverse the social media company’s actions.
The company has been criticized for failing to police abusive content in countries where such speech is most likely to cause harm, but the board’s latest case shows that overpolicing can also be a problem .
Digital Rights of Palestinians
In September, a report produced by an independent consulting firm commissioned by Meta found that over-enforcement resulted in significantly disproportionate consequences for the digital rights of Palestinians and Arabic-speaking users.
The report found that Meta’s practices violated Palestinians’ right to freedom of expression and assembly, political participation, and non-discrimination.
Twitter controlled by Elon Musk has also come under fire Censoring Palestinian public figures,
The Washington bureau chief for the Jerusalem-based al-Quds, one of the most widely read Palestinian dailies, had his account suspended.
Asked if he thinks his suspension from Twitter was related to being outspoken about Palestine, Arikat told Al Jazeera: “I believe it does. I can think of no other reason.
Among the reasons offered by the platform were community standards violations, and some accounts were said to have been suspended in error or as a result of technical glitches. Some critics believe that untold reasons include a general increase in hate speech and incitement against Arabs, including Palestinians.