13/3/24, 13:44 Oversight Board | Independent Judgment. Transparency. Legitimacy. The Board finds that Meta’s decision to leave up the content is consistent with Meta’s human rights responsibilities, which are heightened in a situation of armed conflict. Freedom of expression (Article 19 ICCPR) Article 19, para. 2 of the ICCPR provides for broad protection of expression, including the right to access information. These protections remain engaged during armed conflicts, and should continue to inform Meta’s human rights responsibilities, alongside the mutually reinforcing and complementary rules of international humanitarian law that apply during such conflicts, including to protect prisoners of war ( General Comment 31, Human Rights Committee, 2004, para. 11; Commentary to UNGPs, Principle 12; see also UN Special Rapporteur’s report on Disinformation and freedom of opinion and expression during armed conflicts, Report A/77/288, paras. 33-35 (2022); and OHCHR report on International legal protection of human rights in armed conflict (2011) at p. 59). International humanitarian law provides specific guarantees for the treatment of prisoners of war, particularly prohibiting acts of violence or intimidation against prisoners of war as well as exposing them to insults and public curiosity (Article 13, para. 2 of the Geneva Convention (III)). In a situation of armed conflict, the Board’s freedom of expression analysis is informed by the more precise rules in international humanitarian law. The ICRC commentary to Article 13 explains that “being exposed to ‘public curiosity’ as a prisoner of war, even when such exposure is not accompanied by insulting remarks or actions, is humiliating in itself and therefore specifically prohibited [...] irrespective of which public communication channel is used, including the internet” and provides narrow exceptions to this prohibition that are discussed below (ICRC Commentary, at 1624). The UN Special Rapporteur has stated that “[d]uring armed conflict, people are at their most vulnerable and in the greatest need of accurate, trustworthy information to ensure their own safety and well-being. Yet, it is precisely in those situations that their freedom of opinion and expression, which includes ‘the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, is most constrained by the circumstances of war and the actions of the parties to the conflict and other actors to manipulate and restrict information for political, military and strategic objectives” (Report A/77/288, para. 1). https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/FB-YLRV35WD/ 18/26