9/7/24, 14:07 Violence against women | Consejo asesor de contenido The Oversight Board overturns Meta’s decisions in two cases about Instagram posts condemning gender-based violence that Meta removed as anti-men hate speech. Meta has acknowledged that its initial decision in the first case was wrong but maintains the second post violates the Hate Speech policy. In both cases, the Board finds the posts do not violate the Hate Speech policy. It is also recommended that Meta should include a clearer exception to allow content that condemns or raises awareness of gender-based violence in the public language of the Hate Speech policy, as well as update its internal guidance so that moderators can effectively implement this exception. This would help ensure that Meta does not incorrectly remove content condemning or raising awareness about gender-based violence. 2. Case description and background This decision concerns two content decisions made by Meta, which the Oversight Board is addressing here together. An Instagram user in Sweden created two posts with videos and captions. Meta removed both posts for violating its Hate Speech Community Standard. After the Board identified the cases, Meta reversed its decision on the first post stating that it had been removed in error. However, it maintained its decision on the second post. In the first post, the user posted a video with an audio recording and its transcription, both in Swedish, of a woman describing her experience in a violent intimate relationship, including feeling unable to discuss her situation with her family. The audio does not contain graphic details of violence. The caption to the post notes the woman in the audio recording consented to it being published, and that the voice has been modified. It says that there is a culture of blaming victims of gender-based violence, and little understanding of how difficult it is for women to leave a violent partner. The caption says, “men murder, rape and abuse women mentally and physically - all the time, every day.” It also provides a helpline number, shares information about support organizations for victims of intimate partner violence, mentions the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and says it hopes women reading the post will realize they are not alone. The post was viewed around 10,000 times. On the same day, a Meta classifier identified the content as potentially violating the Hate Speech policy. Meta stated that due to a bug, the classifier created two review jobs. It then sent the content twice to two reviewers, who each decided twice that the content violated the Hate Speech policy. Meta removed the post and applied a “ strike” to the user’s Instagram account. When Meta removes content, it sometimes applies “strikes,” which correspond to different penalties against an account as they accumulate. https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/ig-h3138h6s/?lang=es 5/21