13/3/24, 13:44 Oversight Board | Independent Judgment. Transparency. Legitimacy. Following its decision that the content should be left up under the newsworthiness allowance, the Board finds that the violent and graphic nature of the video justified the imposition of a “mark as disturbing” warning screen, which serves a dual function of warning users of the graphic nature of the content and limiting the ability to view the content to adults over the age of 18. Although Meta did not specify the policy line it relied upon to impose this screen, the Board finds two rules were engaged. First, the video shows what appear to be dead bodies of Armenian soldiers lying in the rubble. While the internal guidelines to moderators exclude violence committed by one or more uniformed personnel preforming a police function, in which case a “mark as sensitive” warning screen would be applied, the internal guidelines further define “police function” as “maintaining public order by performing crowd control and/or detaining people” and clarifies that “war does not qualify as a police function.” As the content concerns an armed conflict situation, the Board finds it was consistent with Meta’s policies to add a “mark as disturbing” warning screen. The Board notes the video further engaged a second policy line as it showed acts meeting Meta’s definition of torture against people. For the purpose of Meta’s policy enforcement, the internal guidelines to moderators define such “torture” imagery as (i) imagery of a person in a dominated or forcibly restrained position and any of the following: (a) there is an armament pointed at the person; (b) there is evidence of injury on the person; or (c) person is being subjected to violence; or (ii) imagery of a person subjected to humiliating acts. Meta further defines “dominated position” as “any position including where the victim is kneeling, cornered, or unable to defend themselves” and “forcibly restrained” as “being physically tied, bound, buried alive or otherwise held against one’s will.” Noting that Meta’s definition of “torture” is much broader than the term as understood under international law, the Board finds that it was consistent with Meta’s rules to apply the “mark as disturbing” screen and accompanying agegating restrictions. In line with the internal guidance, there are sufficient indicators in the content that individuals are being held against their will as detainees, and are unable to defend themselves. Moreover, several detainees seemed to be injured, while others appeared to be deceased. 8.2 Compliance with Meta’s human rights responsibilities https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/FB-YLRV35WD/ 17/26

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents