Meta Oversight Board Reviews Video Showing Iran Woman Unveiled

(CTN News) – In a statement on Thursday, the Oversight Board of Meta Platforms, the company that owns Instagram, said it was reviewing the company’s decision to leave up, remove, and then reinstate a post showing a man confronting a woman in Tehran over not wearing the hijab in public.

In late 2020, the Oversight Board was established to review Facebook and Instagram’s decision on taking down or leaving up certain content. As part of its role, the Oversight Board will make decisions regarding whether to uphold or overturn the company’s decision.

Board members have the option to make recommendations to Meta that are not binding, but the company must respond to those recommendations within 60 days of receiving them.

As explained by the board of directors, which is funded by Meta but runs independently, the board had chosen the post, which was posted earlier this year, in an effort to “explore Meta’s policies and practices for moderating content that could negatively affect the ongoing protests in Iran”.

According to its usual practice, it invited the public to submit comments on the case as well, as part of its investigation.

After a year of unrest due to the death of a young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in custody set off some of the worst political unrest in Tehran for over four decades, Iran saw sporadic protests in mid-September amid a widespread crackdown by security forces.

A statement released by the board stated that the Instagram video it was reviewing showed the face of the woman who was arrested after the confrontation which led to the arrest.

In the accompanying caption, which is written in Persian, the user expresses his or her support for the woman and, more broadly, for Iranian women who stand up to the regime, while also commenting on the arrest in question.

The board of directors said the video had originally been flagged by AI for violating community guidelines and had been sent to humans for review.

Meta reviewers were unable to agree on whether there was a violation of the rules, so the post remained up until a member of the public flagged it as a violation. According to the board’s statement, the post was then removed from the board’s website, only to be reinstated when the user who posted it said that it highlighted the bravery of Iranian women.

A board member noted that the case of the video falls within the board’s strategic priorities, which include crisis and conflict situations as well as gender issues.

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