March 17, 2023
The Oversight Board for Facebook’s parent company says the company was wrong to remove a post with a common protest slogan against Iran’s leader.
In July, moderators at Meta said the use of “Marg bar Khamenehi” (literally “Death to Khamenehi”) broke guidelines barring language that advocates violence.
However, the Oversight Board said the Persian phrase was commonly used rhetorically to mean “Down with Khamenehi” and did not represent a credible threat of violence.
The Oversight Board acts independently to make decisions about what content should be permitted or banned on Meta’s platforms, which include Instagram and WhatsApp as well as Facebook.
“In the Iranian context, the board finds that Meta must do more to respect freedom of expression, and permit the use of rhetorical threats,” the Oversight Board’s ruling said.
“The Iranian government systematically represses freedom of expression and digital spaces have become a key forum for dissent. In such situations, it is vital that Meta supports users’ voices…. As this case shows, its failure to do so led to the silencing of political speech aimed at protecting women’s rights.”
The board also urged Meta to include in its guidelines on violent content the criteria used to determine when rhetorical threats against heads of state were permitted.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Meta temporarily allowed its users in some countries to call for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It reversed the exemption two days later, after its existence was reported.
The company bans language that incites “serious violence” but aims to avoid overreach by limiting enforcement to credible threats, leaving ambiguity around when and how the rule applies.
Meta also has faced scrutiny over how its platforms were used to organize the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Phrases like “kill them all” appeared in thousands of US-based Facebook Groups before the attack, including calls for violence against specific US political leaders.
The Oversight Board said the “Death to Khamenehi” statements differ from threats posted around January 6, as politicians were then “clearly at risk” in the US context and “death to” was not a rhetorical statement in English.
