Oversight Board Urges Meta To Tighten Content That Popularizes Gender-Based Violence

Illustration of gender-based bullying. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Meta Platform Inc. watchdog urged the company to take a tougher stance on content that popularizes gender-based violence after finding a post on Facebook mocking an injured woman and staying on the platform for nearly two years without being reviewed by human moderators.

On Tuesday, August 1, the agency asked Meta to address loopholes in bullying and harassment policies that seem to allow content promoting gender-based violence by "testing, justifying, celebrating, or mocking it" to escape its moderation practices.

Today, the Board overturned Meta’s decision to leave up a Facebook post that mocks a target of gender-based violence.Meta should undertake a policy development process to establish a policy aimed at addressing content that normalizes gender-based violence.

— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) August 1, 2023

Today, the Board overturned Meta's decision to leave up a Facebook post that mock a target of gender-based violence.Meta should undertake a policy development process to eventually a policy applied at addressing content that normalizes gender-based violence.

An image depicting a woman with "physical signs of attack, including bruises on her face and body" was published on Facebook in May 2021, along with information in Arabic implying that her husband was responsible for her injury.

According to information from the agency, the woman "got what she deserved" and was accompanied by several laughing and smiling emojis. The woman was not named in the post, but her face was seen in the picture.

The post, which described the injured woman, was reported three times for violating Meta community standards regarding violence and incitement in February 2023. However, the agency claims that the report is closed due to reports of reported content that are not reviewed within 48 hours will be closed automatically.

The issue was later reported directly to the Meta Oversight Board, and the post was later deleted after Meta agreed that the post had indeed violated their bullying and harassment policies. Meta has yet to respond to Oversight Board's request; The Verge has also sought responses from the company.

The agency stated that the post should have been removed for making fun of serious physical injuries that violated Meta's policy of bullying and harassment. However, the agency also noted that current rules do not apply to posts where victims cannot be identified or fictional figures are described - in other words, loopholes that could allow this kind of content to spread.

The agency is now asking Meta to establish a more effective policy to ban content that popularizes gender-based violence and to clarify that their community standards on bullying and harassment clearly prohibit calls or celebrations of "serious physical injury".