17/5/24, 13:36 Hotel in Ethiopia | Oversight Board Ethiopia PLATFORM Facebook This is a summary decision. Summary decisions examine cases where Meta reversed its original decision on a piece of content after the Board brought it to the company’s attention. These decisions include information about Meta’s acknowledged errors. They are approved by a Board Member panel, not the full Board. They do not consider public comments, and do not have precedential value for the Board. Summary decisions provide transparency on Meta’s corrections and highlight areas where the company could improve its policy enforcement. Case summary A user appealed Meta's decision to leave up a Facebook post that called for a hotel in Ethiopia's Amhara region to be burned down. This case highlights Meta's error in enforcing its policy against a call for violence in a country experiencing armed conflict and civil unrest. After the Board brought the appeal to Meta's attention, the company reversed its original decision and removed the post. Case description and background On April 6, 2023, a Facebook user posted an image and caption that called for a hotel in Ethiopia's Amhara region to be burned down. The user claimed that the hotel was owned by a general in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces. The post also included a photograph of the hotel, its address, and the name of the general. The user posted this content during a period of heightened political tension in the Amhara region when protests had been taking place for several days against the government's plan to dissolve a regional paramilitary force. Under Meta's Violence and Incitement policy, the company removes content that calls for highseverity violence. In their appeal to the Board, the user who reported the content stated that the post calls for violence and violates Meta's Community Standards. Meta initially left the content on Facebook. When the Board brought this case to Meta’s attention, it determined that the post violated its Violence and Incitement policy, and that its original decision to https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/FB-IULHG7JK/ 2/4