The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta announced on Tuesday that it would lift the blanket ban that it had applied on the word “shaheed,” which translates to “martyr” in English. This decision that stated that the previous approach was excessively broad and needed to be narrowed down, was reportedly followed after a year-long extensive review that was taken by its oversight board.
A research that was commissioned by Meta in the year 2021 revealed that that the company’s approach had a negative impact on the human rights of Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking users due to which it had faced longstanding extensive criticism over its content moderation policies. This backlash was particularly noted in the Middle East. Additionally, it was noted that these criticisms intensified following the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in October.
The independent oversight board, though funded by Meta, operates autonomously. It initiated the review last year because “shaheed” was responsible for more content removals than any other single word or phrase on Meta’s platforms. The review that concluded in the month of March reflected that the company’s guidelines on the word “shaheed” were overly simplistic and failed to consider the word’s multiple meanings, resulting in the unwarranted removal of content that did not promote violence.
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The review’s findings were acknowledged by Meta and further explained that the tests conducted by the organization indicated removal of the content where ‘shaheed’ was used in conjunction with otherwise violating material. This approach mitigates harm without silencing the users.
The policy change was welcomed by the oversight board, making it noticeable that the blanket ban that was initiated earlier had led to the censorship of millions of users across Meta platforms. The board emphasized that a nuanced understanding of language and context is crucial for fair and effective content moderation.
