based violence on the safety, physical and psychological health and dignity of women, and
the difficulty of bringing online violence against women to the attention of content
moderators who may not understand the relevant regional dialect.
To read public comments submitted for this case, please click here.
8. Oversight Board analysis
The Board examined whether this content should be removed by analyzing Meta's content
policies, human rights responsibilities and values. The Board also assessed the implications
of this case for Meta’s broader approach to content governance, providing recommendations
on how Meta’s policies and enforcement processes can better respect Meta’s human rights
responsibilities.
The Board selected this appeal because it offers the opportunity to explore how Meta’s
policies and enforcement address content that targets women human rights defenders and
content that mocks gender-based violence, issues the Board is focusing on through its
strategic priority of gender.
8.1 Compliance with Meta’s content policies
I. Content rules
The Board finds that the post violates Meta’s policy on Bullying and Harassment, both at the
time and under the updated policy, and should be removed. The caption of the post read in
conjunction with the image violates Meta’s policy because it mocks the serious physical injury
or medical condition of the woman depicted.
Meta’s internal guidance for content moderators defines “mocking” as “an attempt to make a
joke about, laugh at, or degrade someone or something.” In the form of a joke, the content
implies the woman depicted deserved to be physically attacked for making a typographical
error in her request to her husband.
According to Meta, the internal guidance provided to content moderators defines “medical
condition” to include “serious injury.” Prior to the update on June 29, the public-facing policy
prohibited mocking the “serious physical injury” of a private individual or a limited scope
public figure, while the internal guidance provided to moderators prohibited mocking their