Meta’s Board of Review has accepted its first case of a post in Threads, which will allow the group to weigh in on the debate about the role of political content in Threads. The staff began to receive complaints users announced their first work on Meta’s newest app earlier this year.
The case stems from a post by a Japanese user who responded to a screenshot of a news article about Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and allegations of tax evasion. According to the board, the response used the phrase “a few hashtags” and “fall is dying.” Meta’s content moderators have removed the post, citing the company’s policy against incitement to violence. But after the user appealed to the Review Board and accepted the case, Meta reversed course, saying the post didn’t violate its rules.
All of this might sound typical enough for a board that regularly reviews Meta’s content moderation decisions and pushes the social media company to change its policies. But this is the first time the group will apply the same process to Threads. The board suggested it would use the case to evaluate the company’s controversial decision to stop the show. In algorithmic recommendations on Threads and Instagram.
“The Board chose this case to investigate Meta’s content moderation policies and enforcement practices regarding political content in Threads,” the Board of Review said in a statement. “This is especially important in the context of Meta’s decision to actively discourage political content on Threads.”
As always, it will likely be several months before we see the Oversight Board’s decision materialize into any policy changes at Meta. Meanwhile, the board is seeking public comment on “how Meta’s choice not to recommend political content in Threads and Instagram news feeds or on pages not followed by users affects access to information and political speech.”
