3/10/22, 12:48 Oversight Board | Independent Judgment. Transparency. Legitimacy. internal guidance on the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy was “inadvertently not transferred” to a new review system in 2018. This guidance, developed in 2017 partly in response to concern about the conditions of Öcalan’s imprisonment, allows discussion on the conditions of confinement for individuals designated as dangerous. In line with this guidance, Facebook restored the content to Instagram on April 23. Facebook told the Board that it is currently working on an update to its policies to allow users to discuss the human rights of designated dangerous individuals. The company asked the Board to provide insight and guidance on how to improve these policies. While Facebook updated its Community Standard on Dangerous Individuals and Organizations on June 23, 2021, these changes do not directly impact the guidance the company requested from the Board. Key findings The Board found that Facebook’s original decision to remove the content was not in line with the company’s Community Standards. As the misplaced internal guidance specifies that users can discuss the conditions of confinement of an individual who has been designated as dangerous, the post was permitted under Facebook’s rules. The Board is concerned that Facebook lost specific guidance on an important policy exception for three years. Facebook’s policy of defaulting towards removing content showing “support” for designated individuals, while keeping key exceptions hidden from the public, allowed this mistake to go unnoticed for an extended period. Facebook only learned that this policy was not being applied because of the user who decided to appeal the company’s decision to the Board. While Facebook told the Board that it is conducting a review of how it failed to transfer this guidance to its new review system, it also stated “it is not technically feasible to determine how many pieces of content were removed when this policy guidance was not available to reviewers.” The Board believes that Facebook’s mistake may have led to many other posts being wrongly removed and that Facebook’s transparency reporting is not sufficient to assess whether this type of error reflects a systemic problem. Facebook’s actions in this case indicate that the company is failing to respect the right to remedy, contravening its Corporate Human Rights Policy (Section 3). https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/IG-I9DP23IB/ 3/21