jailed for her activism. According to Meta, the photograph in the post shows the activist after
she was beaten by individuals affiliated with the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
Based on the policy in place at the time, Meta stated that it considers the content to be
mocking the serious physical injury of the woman depicted, and therefore, it violates the
policy. Meta considers the woman depicted in the photograph to be a limited scope public
figure, as her primary fame is limited to her activism. Meta understands the content to be
joking about her injuries and implying that she “brought them upon herself due to ‘karma’.”
According to Meta, the content also “makes up” a story about her having written a poorly
worded letter, implying she lacks intelligence, when in reality she suffered these injuries as a
result of a violent attack.
Following the update in the policy, Meta told the Board the content remains violating, and the
update does not impact the substantive protection provided by the policy to the woman
depicted. According to Meta, “[t]he update to the Bullying and Harassment policy was
intended to streamline the policy. The update did not change the protections afforded limited
scope public figures, like the woman identified in the case content. The relevant line under
which [Meta] removed this content was initially in Tier 4 of the policy, but as a result of the
update it is now part of Tier 1.”
The Board asked Meta 11 questions in writing. Questions related to Meta policies addressing
content depicting gender-based violence, how Meta enforces the Bullying and Harassment
policy, and any research on depictions of gender-based violence on social media and offline
harms. Ten questions were answered and one question, asking for regional enforcement data
for the Bullying and Harassment policy, was not answered.
7. Public comments
The Oversight Board received 19 public comments for this case. Three comments were
submitted from Middle East and North Africa, two comments were submitted from Central
and South Asia, two comments were submitted from Asia Pacific and Oceania, three
comments were submitted from Europe, eight comments were submitted from United States
and Canada, and one from Latin America and Caribbean.
The submissions covered the following themes: cyber harassment and targeting of women
activists and public figures, the serious consequences of the digital dimension of genderbased violence on the safety physical and psychological health and dignity of women and