L’Oversight Board di Meta, the Supervisory Board of the parent company of Facebookis urging the social network to adopt a tougher stance against content that normalizes gender-based violence. This request comes following the discovery of a Facebook post mocking an injured woman that remained on the platform for almost two years without the intervention of a human moderator.
Facebook must do better to tackle gender-based violence
According to reports from The Verge, the post in question has remained on the platform since May 2021. It depicts a woman with “visible signs of physical aggression, including bruises on her face and body”. The caption accompanying the image in Arabic referred to her husband as responsible for her injuries, stating that the woman “he got what he deserved“. The post was even accompanied by several laughing and smiling emojis.
The Oversight Board reports that users they reported the post three times in February 2023 for violating the Meta Community Standard. However, Meta has closed the report as a matter of practice if it does not review the reported content within 48 hours. Only after the intervention of the Meta Oversight Board did Facebook remove the post. Meta then acknowledged the violation of its anti-bullying and harassment policy.
The Oversight Board highlighted the need for ua clearer policy that effectively bans content that normalizes gender-based violence. Currently, the existing rules do not apply to posts where the victim is not identifiable. Or when it comes to fictional characters, leaving loopholes that could allow the dissemination of offensive content of this kind.
The board is urging Meta to establish one tougher policy that explicitly prohibits content that normalizes gender-based violence. And that it makes it clear that its bullying and harassment policy clearly prohibits the claim or celebration of “serious bodily harm”. At the moment, Meta has not responded to the request and has not made a statement.