The Oversight Board decision contracted expression by agreeing with Meta’s decision to remove the content. However, it did so under an international human rights law recognized exception since the content in question was dehumanizing and hateful given that it compared ethnic Serbs to rats and celebrated past acts of discriminatory treatment. In the Board’s view, removing the content from the platform was necessary to address the severe hate speech based on ethnicity.
The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.
According to Article 2 of the Oversight Board Charter, “For each decision, any prior board decisions will have precedential value and should be viewed as highly persuasive when the facts, applicable policies, or other factors are substantially similar.” In addition, Article 4 of the Oversight Board Charter establishes, “The board’s resolution of each case will be binding and Facebook (now Meta) will implement it promptly, unless implementation of a resolution could violate the law. In instances where Facebook identifies that identical content with parallel context – which the board has already decided upon – remains on Facebook (now Meta), it will take action by analyzing whether it is technically and operationally feasible to apply the board’s decision to that content as well. When a decision includes policy guidance or a policy advisory opinion, Facebook (now Meta) will take further action by analyzing the operational procedures required to implement the guidance, considering it in the formal policy development process of Facebook (now Meta), and transparently communicating about actions taken as a result.”