Oversight Board overturns Facebook removal of post protesting Iranian leadership
Christopher Hutton
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Facebook’s independent content moderation board decided to overturn the platform’s decision to take down a post protesting the Iranian government and wishing death to Iran’s leadership.
Meta’s Oversight Board announced on Monday that it would restore a July 2022 post that could be interpreted as a threat to kill Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei. The post featured a cartoon of Khamenei, with his beard forming a fist that had grabbed a chained, blindfolded woman, with a caption calling for “death to” Khamenei and his government.
The board ruled that the post, which used a Farsi phrase for “death to,” did not violate Meta’s Violence and Incitement Community Standards since the phrase could also be interpreted as “down with.”
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The board noted “the importance of context in assessing slogans calling for ‘death to,’ and finds that it is impossible to adopt a universal rule on their use.” For example, saying “death to Salman Rushdie,” the author, is different than saying “death to Khamenei” due to there being a “fatwa,” or Islamic ruling, against Rushdie. This distinction is what led to the author being assaulted last year.
The board also called for Meta to “do more to respect freedom of expression, and permit the use of rhetorical threats” since the Iranian government “systematically represses freedom of expression and digital spaces have become a key forum for dissent.”
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Iran has been experiencing protests for several months after Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September after she was charged with violating the country’s mandatory hijab law. While Iranian authorities have not let up on their treatment of locals, Khamenei hinted at potentially loosening the hijab laws during a recent appearance.