Meta’s oversight board has called on the tech giant to end its blanket ban on a common usage of the Arabic word “shaheed,” or “martyr” in English, after a year-long review found the company’s approach was “overbroad” and had unnecessarily suppressed the speech of millions of users.
The board, which is funded by Meta but operates independently, said the company should remove posts containing the word “shaheed” only when they are linked to clear signs of violence or if they separately break other Meta rules.
The ruling comes after years of criticism of the company’s handling of content involving the Middle East, which has escalated since the onset of Israel’s onslaught on Palestine’s Gaza.
Rights groups have accused Meta of suppressing content supportive of Palestinians on Facebook and Instagram, against the backdrop of a war that has killed tens of thousands of people in the besieged enclave.
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The Meta Oversight Board concluded Meta’s rules on “shaheed” failed to account for the word’s variety of meanings and resulted in the removal of content not aimed at praising violent actions.
Meta currently removes any posts using “shaheed” in referring to people it designates on its list of “dangerous organisations and individuals,” which includes Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
The company says the word constitutes praise for those entities, which it bans, according to the board’s report
